1 



pa 



DISSERTATION 

ON THE 

ORIENTAL TRINITIES: 

EXTRACTED FROM THE 

FOURTH AND FIFTH VOLUMES 

OF 

INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 

ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. 

By the AUTHOR. 

LONDON: iu 

Printed, for the AUTHOR, by C. and W. Galabin, Incram- 
Court, Fenchurch-Street ; 
And sold by JOHN WHITE, Fleet-Street. 
Price Fourteen Shillings. 

1801, 



dwTT@UE Sculpture , 




BBAHMA VeESOTU 
CvYVKRN l'AGCUXV „/ KLEPHANTA////,/^,;,/,/ ^ 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 031606 



TO THE 



RIGHT R E V E REND 

GEORGE, 
LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN, 
THIS VOLUME, 



THE RESULT OF HIS LORDSHIP^ FAVOURABLE 



NOTICE OF THE LARGER WORK FROM 
WHICH IT IS AN EXTRACT, 



IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED, 



BY HIS LORDSHIP'S OBLIGED 



AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 



THOMAS MAURICE. 



DISSERTATION, &c. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Trinity, a Doffrine revealed to Man in 
Innocence. — - On his Fall, Polytheijm erefied 
itfelf on the Mifapprehenfion of that DoSrine. 

The Indians divided into Four great Tribes 
and various inferior Ca/ls, but all unite in the 
Adoration of One grand Triad, Brahma^ 
Veejhnu, and Seeva. — Hence the NeceJJity of 
thoroughly invejligating the Subjett ! , and in- 
quiring whence they derived a Tenet fo conge- 
nial with a fundamental DoSlrine of Chrijlia- 
nity. — The Difficulty fiated of penetrating into 
the mere hidden Myfteries of their Theology. — 
The fuccefsful Attempt of Akber> and the of- 
fering Story of Feizi and bis Brabmin-Pre- 

B ceptor % 



r is i 

xeptor. — Feizi, the Jirfl Foreigner ever admit* 
ted to an intimate Acquaintance with the Ar- 
cana of their Religion and the facred Sanfcreet 
Language. — Some curfory Remarks on that 
Language. — The Tbrez viythologic Perfonages 
of the Indian Trinity are Copies of the true 
the Office of Brahma being to create, of 
Veejhnu to preferve and mediate, and of Steve 
to quicken and regenerate. — It confequently 
defcended to them from their Ancefiors, the Pa- 
triarchs, who fettled in that Region ofJJia.— 
But, Doubts having been entertained whether 
the Patriarchs themfelves believed it \ and 3 in 
Jhorty whether fucb a Doctrine exijled in the 
Hebrew Scriptures, the Author commences 
an extended DifcuJJion of that interejling 
^uejlion. — A general View is now taken of 
what is meant by the fcriptural DoBrine of the 
Trinity. — Not likely to have originated in 
human Invention or in the School of Plato. — 
Chrijlianity only the Completion of the JewiJJj 
Theological Code ; therefore, this Dodlrine to be 
looked for with Confidence in the Old Tejiament, 
and there it is indifputably, though obfeurely, re- 
waled. — The true Origin of that Contempt 
and Rancour, with which the Jews are en- 
flamed againft the Meffiah, unfolded. — Hence 
the RejeZicn of the Doclrine of the Trinity by 



t 19 ] 

the modern Hebrews, though believed by their 
Anceflors. — Some phyjical Obje5iio7is y urged 
again/} that Dotfrine by Unbelievers, an- 
fivered. 

AMONG the philofophers of the Pagaa 
world, not infe&ed with atheiftical 
principles, there were fome who entertained 
fuch degrading conceptions concerning the 
Deity, as to imagine him to be a fevere, un- 
focial, inacceffible, being, exifting, through 
eternal ages, in the centre of barren and 
boundlefs folitude. This unworthy concep- 
tion of the divine nature in a more particular 
manner influenced, as we fhall hereafter have 
repeated opportunities of demonftrating, the 
theology of the ancient Egyptians, who re- 
prefented the throne of God as feated in an 
abyfs of darknefs, and himfelf as «>«iw 
xexpppevo^ invifible and 'occult.* The more 
enlightened, however,* of the Gentile philofo- 
phers confidered the Deity as a prolific and 
inexhauftible fountain, whence the brighter!: 
and pureft emanations have fucceffively flow- 
ed; and this jufter notion of his nature 
doubtlefs originated from traditions delivered 
down, during a long revolution of ages, from 

B 2 the 

* Plutarch de liide et Ofiridc, p. 354. 



[ *0 1 

the ancient patriarchs, difperfed in the earlieff 
periods through the various empires of Alia. 
That thofe venerable patriarchs were admitted, 
by the divine favour, to a nearer contemplation 
of the myfterious arcana of the celeftial world 
than their fellow-mortals, we have the evidence 
of Scripture to fupport our afferting ; and that 
the great progenitor of mankind himfelf might, 
in his ftate of innocence, be indulged in flill 
higher privileges, even fo far as to have been 
allowed an intimate knowledge of the nature 
of that awful Being, in whofe auguft image 
he is faid to have been formed, is a fuppo- 
fition at which neither piety nor reafon will 
revolt. The fuppofition will poflibly be ftill 
more readily acquiefced in when what I have 
clfewhere remarked fhall have been fully con- 
fidered, that, in that pure primeval condition 
of man, his faculties were better calculated 
than thefe of his fallen pofterity to bear the 
influx of great celeftial truths, and that pro- 
found meditation on the divine perfections at 
once formed his conftant employment and 
conftituted his fublimeft delight. 

It is an hypothefis in the higheft degree 
probable, an hypothefis which has ever flag- 
gered the fceptic, that, from certain traditional 
precepts, defcending down, however in their 

defcent 



defcent corrupted ^nd mutilated, from that 
prime progenitor, relative to a certain plu- 
rality fubfifting, after a method incompre- 
henfible to human beings, in the unity of 
the divine effence, the greateft part of the 
multifarious polytheifm of the Pagan world 
originated. Hence we may not unreafonably 
fuppofe the Sabian fuperftition, or worftlip of 
the flars and planets, concerning which fo 
much has been faid in the early part of the 
Indian theology, took its rife ; hence angels 
and other astherial beings firft began to receive 
adoration ; hence the attributes of God, and 
even the virtues of men, perfonified, came to 
be exalted into divinities; and heaven and 
earth became gradually filled with deities of 
various fuppofed rank, fun&ions, and autho- 
rity. 

The preceding reflexions muft ferve as a 
bafis for the ample difquifition which is to 
follow, in this volume, upon the Hebrew 
Trinity and the Pagan Triads of De- 
ity. It is through the imagined anti- 
quity of India, and its fciences, that the 
Mofaic and Chriftian fyftems of theology 
have been principally attacked; and, there- 
fore, it (hall be one main objeft of our In- 

B 3 DIAN 



[ 22 ] 

Dian Antiquities to defend and illuftrate 
thofe fyftems. 

After having, with daring, bat no facrile- 
gious flep, penetrated into the in mo ft re- 
cefles of the caverns and groves of India, 
and taken a glance at fome of the moil: an- 
cient religious rites pra&ifed in them by the 
Brahmins ; in particular, the Sabian fuper- 
ftition, the worfhip of fire, and initiation into 
certain deep theological myfteries, nearly 
refembling thofe celebrated in Egypt and 
Greece; after having, likewife, fo exten- 
fively furveyed thofe grand external fabrics 
of national devotion, erefted when cavern- 
worfhip began to be negleded, the pagodas, 
abounding in every quarter of this extenfive 
region of the greater Afia; let us, through 
yonder folitary door, enter the illumined 
Ihrine, and, with that profound reverence 
which is due to all fyftems of religion, that 
profefs, by whatever mode and under what- 
ever name, to worfhip one grand prefiding 
Deity, let us approach the awful high-raifed 
fanftuary itfelf, glittering with jewels and 
loaded with oblations. Though, in thefe nu- 
merous furrounding fymbols, degraded by hu- 
man, and even by beftial, reprefentation, ftill 
the acknowledged object of their worfhip is 

the 



[ n 3 

the great Father of all, adored with an 
endlefs variety of rites, in every age and re- 
gion of the world, by " the faint, the fa- 
vage, and the fage." Let us, from that fanc- 
tuary, furvey the various tribes of Hindoos 
perform their refpedtive devotions, and, while 
the fervent flame of piety kindles and fpreads 
around us, in this and the following chapter 
let us examine in order thofe other grand 
points of the comprehenfive fyftem of the 
Brahmin religion, which ftill remain to be 
inveftigated. 

Having ufed the word tribes, it becomes 
neceffary for me, in this place, to ftate, in a 
curfory manner, what will be more particu- 
larly unfolded in the enfuing hiftory, that 
the Hindoos have, from the remoteft periods 
of antiquity, been divided into four great 
tribes, each of which comprehends a vari- 
ety of inferior claffes, or casts. By the 
inviolable laws of Brahma, thefe tribes never 
intermingle in marriage, at entertainments, 
or, in any intimate manner, affociate one 
with another, except, fay more modern ac- 
counts, when they worihip at the great tem- 
ple of Jaggernaut, in Oriffa, where it is 
efteemed a crime to make any diftindlion. 
Jaggernaut fignifies Lord of the Creation -, 

B 4 and 



[ 24 ] 

and this injunction feems to imply, that, how- 
ever the policy of their great law-giver might 
think it neceflary to keep them at other times 
feparated, all ideas of fuperiority fliould bz 
annihilated in the prefence of that Being who 
is the common parent of all ranks and claffes 
of mankind. The Brahmins, noble by their 
defcent and venerable by their facerdotal of- 
fice, form the firft tribe. The fecond tribe is 
that of the Kethri, or rajas ; celebrated for 
their valour as the former for their fanciity. 
The Banians, or Merchants, compofe the tribe 
of Bice. The fourth and raoft numerous tribe 
is that of Sooder. To thefe four refpe£tiv<s 
tribes are appointed different degrees of fpiri- 
tual labour, different modes of performing the 
pooja, or worfhip, and different elevations of 
attainable excellence and holinefs. The tribe 
of Brahmins, however, is alone allowed to 
read the Vedas ; and they explain them as 
they pleafe to the other three tribes, who 
receive implicitly the interpretation of their 
priefts. What an unbounded latitude this 
muft open to impofition, in religious con- 
cerns, muft be evident to every reader of re- 
flection. It has arifen from this circumftance 
chiefly, that the pure and fublime theology 
of Brahma has been fo debafed and mu- 

t;lated 3 



[ *5 1 

lilated, efpecially on the coaft of the penin* 
fula, by the policy of a venal priefthood, that 
few of its original features are to be traced in 
the devotion of the common people, who are 
ftrangers to its genuine do&rines, and are en- 
ilaved by an everlafting round of ceremonies, 
not lefs painful than perplexing. The in- 
defatigable exertions, indeed, of our own 
countrymen, have, of late years, burft afun* 
der the veil that formerly obfcured their re- 
ligion, and the facred language in the in* 
I fcrutable receffes of which it was fo long bu- 
ried. How difficult it was, even in the time 
of the Emperor Akber, to penetrate behind 
that veil, will be evinced by the following in* 
! terefting narrative. 

That prince, though bred in all the ftricl:- 
nefs of the Mohammedan faith, pofleJFed a 
mind too liberal and enlarged to be holden in 
chains by any fuperftition whatfoever. With 
a defign to choofe his own religion, or per- 
haps from mere curiofity, he made minute 
inquiries concerning the feveral fyftems of 
divinity that prevailed among mankind. The 
letter, of which Mr. Frafer has given to the 
world a tranflated copy,* in which he folicits 

the 

| 

* See Frafer's Nadir Shah, p. 12, where that letter is given at 
length. 



[ *6 ] 

the king of Portugal that miffionaries might 
be fent to inftruct him and his people in the 
dodfrines of Chrifiianity, is a Angular inftance 
of deviation, from the itrong original bias to 
his own religion, in the mind of a, Mohamme- 
dan. Akber was fuccefsful in his refearches 
among all dalles of religious votaries, except 
the Hindoos: from a knowledge of their fa- 
cred myfteries he found himfelf excluded by a 
line which it was inipoffible to pafs. Diame- 
trically oppofite to the Mohammedan and o- 
ther fyftems of faith, which eagerly embrace 
profelytes of every defcription. The Brahmin 
fuperftition rejeded all converts, and confer 
quentJy defied all inveftigation. Not all his 
authority nor promifes could induce the priefts 
of that order to reveal the principles of their 
faith : at length, artifice fucceeded where pow- 
er failed, and in Feizi, the brother of his 
minifter and confident, Abul Fazil, a proper 
inftrument feemed to be found to accomplifji 
the defired objefr. 

Feizi was, at that time, but of tender 
years, but fufficiently advanced to receive in* 
ftru&ion for the part he was to aft. Under 
the character of a poor orphan of the facer- 
dotal tribe he was received into the houfe, and 
under the protection, of a learned Brahmin at 

Benares ; 



r *7 i 

Benares ; and, in the courfe of ten years, not 
only became matter of the Sanfcreet language, 
but of all the various branches of fcience 
taught at that celebrated univerfity. The 
time approached for his return to the court of 
Akber, and meafures for his fafe and unfuf- 
pected departure from his patron and the city 
where he had fo long refided were accordingly 
taken by the anxious monarch. An ardent 
paflion conceived by the youth for the beau- 
tiful daughter of the Brahmin, and the im- 
pulfe of gratitude ftrongly acting upon a ge- 
nerous mind, induced him, in a moment 
when virtuous principles predominated over 
the fuggeftions of vanity and ambition, to 
proftrate himfelf at the feet of his injured , 
preceptor, to confefs the intended fraud, and, 
amidft a flood of tears, to folicit his forgive- 
nefs. 

The venerable prieft, petrified with horror 
at the tidings, remained for fome minutes in 
agonizing fufpenfe and profound filence. At 
length, ftarting from his reverie, without de- 
fending to the bitternefs of invective, he 
leized a poniard which hung at his girdle, and 
was juft going to bury its point in his own 
bofom. The unhappy youth, arrefting his 
uplifted arm, conjured him to attempt no- 
thing 



[ *8 J 

thing againft fo facred a life, and promifed 
cheerfully to fubmit to any feverities that 
might expiate his offence. The Brahmin, 
who revered the uncommon genius and eru- 
dition of his pupil, now burft into tears, and 
declared his readinefs to forgive him, as well 
as to continue in life, if he would grant him 
two requefts. Feizi with tranfport confented, 
and folemnly fwore to hold his injunctions 
inviolably facred. Thofe injun&ions were, 
that he fhould never tranflate the Vedas, 
nor reveal, to any perfon whatever, the myf- 
terious fymbol of the Brahmin creed. Fei- 
zi kept the folemn promife he had made, as 
long as the Brahmin lived, but confidered 
himfelf releafed from the obligation at the 
moment of his death. He then imparted to 
the fecretary of Akber the leading principles 
of the Brahmin faith j which that writer de- 
tailed in the Ayeen Akbery ; the firft, though 
not the mod ample, fource of all the real 
knowledge we have obtained concerning the 
theology and literature of Hindoftan. 

This, therefore, may feem to be no impro- 
per place for introducing an account of the 
Sanscreet language, and entering into a 
more particular examination of the dodxines 
contained in the four Vedas. Materials, 

however, 



I *9 1 

however, for a full inveftigation of that ab- 
ftrufe fubjeft, have not yet come to my 
hands ; although I am not without expe&a- 
tion of poffeffing thofe materials in a very 
ample degree before my differtation on the 
Hindoo literature, and comparifon of the 
principles of the Brahmin and Grecian fchools, 
(hall make their appearance. The reader will 
be pleafed, for the prefent, to reft content 
with the following concife and curfory re- 
marks upon that facred and ancient lan- 
guage, which are colle&ed from the San- 
fcreet Grammar of Mr. Halhed and the Dif- 
fertations of Sir William Jones. By the for- 
mer of thefe gentlemen we are acquainted 
that the Sanfcreet alphabet confifts of fifty 
letters, thirty-four of which are confonants ; 
and that nearly half of them carry combined 
founds; that the mode of writing Sanfcreet 
is not as the Hebrew, the Perfian, and the 
Arabic, are written, from the right hand to 
the left, but, in the European manner, from 
left to right; and that it has this remarkable 
Angularity, that the confonants in its alpha- 
bet are compofed with a kind of regularity 
approaching to metrical exa&nefs, which ren- 
ders them peculiarly eafy to be retained in 



t 30 ] 

the memory * He afferts it to be a .language 
of the rnoft valuable and unfathomable an- 
tiquity; the grand fource as well as facred 
repofitory of Indian literature, and the pa- 
rent of almoft every dialed, from the Per- 
fian Gulph to the China Sea. He is even of 
opinion, that the Sanfcreet was, in ancient 
periods, current not only over all India, 
confidered in its largefl extent, but over all 
the Oriental world, and that traces of 
its original and general diffufion may ftill be 
difcovered in almoft every region of Afia. 
In the courfe of Mr. Halhed's various read- 
ing, he was aftoniftied to find the fimilitude 
which it in many inftances bore to the Perfian 
and Arabic. He difcovered the vifible traces 
of its charader, that character which he de- 
fcribes to be fo curious in its ftru&ure and fo 
wonderful in its combination, on the rnoft 
ancient medals and imperial fignets of Eaftern 
kingdoms ,f and he feems to hint that it was 
the original language of the earth. Here, then, 
a ftupendous fubjeft unfolds itfelf for future 
and profound inveftigation, involving points 

of 

* See Mr. Halhed's Grammar of the Bengal Language, 
p. 8. 

f See th* very elegant and learned preface to that Grammar, 



[ sr 1 

of the utmoll importance both to religion and 
literature. 

To Mr. Halhed's obfervations on the Sanf- 
creet language might here be added many judi- 
cious reflections made by Sir William Jones on 
Sanfcreet compofitiom \ but, as thofe reflexions 
will be my moft certain guide hereafter, it is 
| not my intention to anticipate, in this plaee, 
! remarks which will more forcibly arreft atten- 
| tion in the DiSertation on the Literature of 
! India. It will be fufficient for the reader to 
be informed, in general, that Sir William 
ftrenuoufly afferts the remote y but not unfa- 
thGtnable> antiquity of the Sanfcreet language. 
The Sanfcreet profe he defcribes as eafy and 
beautiful, and its poetry as fublime and ener- 
getic. He obferves, that the learned will find 
, in it almoft all the meafures of the Greeks; 
and that the particular language of the Brah- 
mins, or the Devanagari, a word explained 
before, runs very naturally into Sapphics, Al- 
caics, and Iambics, Sir William reprefents 
it as even more perfect than the Greek, more 
copious than the Latin, and more exquifitely 
refined than either, yet bearing to both fo 
ftrong an affinity as to induce a convittion, in 
I the mind of a philologer, that they all muft 
have fprung from fome common fourcej a 

fource 



t 32 ] 

lource which, perhaps, no longer exifls. It 
is in the Devanagari language (a language 
believed to have been taught by the Divinity, 
who prefcribed the artificial order of the cha- 
racters that conftitute it in a voice from hea- 
ven) that the facred Vedas are written, in a 
kind of meafured profe. Let me not muti- 
late, by abridging the paffage, the following 
moft important information given us by this 
indefatigable Oriental fcholar, with which, for 
the prefent, I fhall conclude the fubjed. 
4t Thefe letters, with no greater variation in 
their form, by the change of ftraight lines to 
curves, or converfely, than the Cusic alpha- 
bet has received in its way to India, are ftiJl 
adopted in more than twenty kingdoms and 
ftates, from the borders of Cashgur and 
Khoten to Rama's Bridge, and from the 
Seendhu to the river of Si am. Nor can I 
help believing, although the poliflied and ele- 
gant Devanagari may not be fo ancient as the 
monumental characters in the caverns of Ja- 
rasandha, that the fquareCHALDAic letters, 
in which moft Hebrew books are copied, were 
originally the fame, or derived from the fame 
prototype, both with the Indian and Arabian 
chara6lers : that the Phcenician, from which 
the Greek and Roman alphabets were formed, 

by 



C 33 ! 

by various changes and inverfions, had a 
fimilar origin, there can be little doubt, 

| while the infcriptions of Canarah feem to 

i be compounded of Nagari and JEtbiq- 
pic letters, which bear a clofe relation to 

! each other, both in the mode of writing 
from the left hand, and in the Angular 
manner of conceding the vowels with the 
confonants. Thefe remarks may favour an 

| opinion, entertained by many, that all the 
Symbols of found, which, at firft, probably, 

\ were only rude outlines of the different or- 
gans of fpeech, had a common origin : the 
fymbols of ideas, now ufed in China and Ja- 
pan, and formerly, perhaps, in Egypt and 
Mexico, are quite of a diftina nature ; but 
it is very remarkable, that the order of 
founds in the Chinefe Grammar correfponds 
nearly with that obferved in Tibet, and 
hardly differs from that which the Hin- 
doos confider as the invention of their 

GODS."* 

It has been remarked, that, wherefoever 
we direft our attention to Hindoo litera- 
ture, the notion of infinity prefents itfelf. 
I am of opinion, that the fame remark may, 

C with 

j * Afiatic Refearches, vol.i. p. 424, ubi fupra, 



C 34 I 

with ftill greater propriety, be applied to 
a more important fubjecl, their theology,. 
That theology comprehends fo many mo- 
mentous and interefting points, and, in the 
examination of it, fuch an extend ve field is 
opened for fpeculation, that no author, de- 
termined fully to inveftigate it, can obferve 
order entirely un violated. I fhall proceed 
in that inveftigation with as much regula- 
rity of arrangement as the fubject will al- 
low, and leave the reft to the candour of my 
readers. 

One of the moft prominent features in 
the Indian theology is the do&rine of a 
Divine Triad governing all things 5 a fub- 
jeft by no means to be palled over in fi- 
lence, but at the fame time conne£led with 
the abftrufeft fpeeulations of ancient phi- 
lofophy. It has been repeatedly obferved, 
that the mythologic perfonages, Brahma, 
Veeshnu, and Seeva, conftitute this grand 
Hindoo triad. By Brahma, it is univer- 
ially acknowledged, the Indians mean God 
the Creator \ and poffihly the Sanfcrcet root 
may have fome affinity to the Hebrew era, 
sra or bar A, created. Veeshnu, in Sanf- 
creet, literally fignifies a cherijher^ a prefer<ver $ 
a comforter j and Seeva, a deftroyer and aven- 
ger. 



f 35 3 

j ger. To thefe three perfonages, different 
| fun&ions are affigned, in the Hindoo fyf- 
i tem of mythologic fuperftition, correfpon- 
dent to the different fignification of their 
names. They are diftinguifhed, likewife, 
befides thefe general titles, in the various 
faftras and puranas, by an infinite vari- 
ety of appellations defcriptive of their of- 
fice, which has been the occaiion of as in- 
finite errors in the works of European tra- 
vellers. 

That nearly all the pagan nations of an- 
| tiquity, in their various theological fyftems, 
j acknowledged a kind of Trinity in the di- 
J vine nature, has been the occafion of much 
needlefs alarm and unfounded apprehenfion, 
efpecially to thofe profeffors of Chriftianity, 
whofe religious principles reft upon fo flen- 
der a bafis that they waver with every wind 
of dofirim. The very circumftance which 
has given rife to thefe apprehenfions, the 
univerfal prevalence of this do&rine in the 
Gentile kingdoms, is, in my opinion, fo 
far from invalidating the divine authenti- 
city of it, that it appears to be an irre- 
fragable argument in its favour. It ought 
! to confirm the piety of the wavering Chrif- 
I tian, and build up the tottering fabric of 

C 2 his 



[ 36 ] 

his faith. The doftrine itfelf bears fach j 
ftriking internal marks of a divine origi- • 
nal, and is fo very unlikely to have been 
the invention of mere human reafon, that 
there is no way of accounting for the ge- 
neral adoption of fo Angular a belief by : 
mod ancient nations, than by fuppofing j 
what I have, in pretty ftrong terms, inti- 
mated at the commencement of this chap- 
ter, and what I hope mo ft of thofe, who 1 
honour thefe pages with a perufal, will fi- 
nally unite with me in concluding to be 
the genuine faff, that this dodlrine was nei- 
ther -the invention of Pythagoras, nor Pla- 
to, nor any other philofopher in the ancient ! 
world, but a sublime mysterious truth, 
one of thofe ftupendous arcana of the in- j 
vifible world, which, through the conde- 
fcending goodnefs of divine Providence, was 
revealed to the ancient patriarchs of the faith- -j 
ful line of Shem 5 by them propagated to 
their Hebrew pofterity 5 and, through that ! 
pofterity, during their various migrations and 
difperiion over the Eaft, diffufed through r 
the Gentile nations among which they fo- 
journed. 

I muft again take permiffion to affert it as 
my fblemn belief, a belief founded upon long 

and 



[ 37 J 

and elaborate mveftigation of this important 
fubjecr, that the Indian as well as all other 
triads of Deity, fo univerfally adored through- 
out the whole Afiatic world, and under every 
denomination, whether they confift of per- 

-SONS, PRINCIPLES, Or ATTRIBUTES, DEIFIED, 

are only corruptions of the Chriftian doctrine 
of the Trinity. Phyfics and falfe philofo- 
phy have, in every age, combined to darken 
this great truth 5 but they have not availed 
wholly to extirpate it from the mind of man. 
With refpecr, however, to drawing any im- 
mediate parallel between the Chriftian and 
Hindoo Trinity, as the Hindoo Trinity is 
now conceived of by the Brahmins, it might 
border on abfolute blafphemy, principally oj\ 
account of the licentious rites and grofs phy- 
fical character of Seeva ; a character which I 
cannot but confider as greatly mifreprefented 
by them. In the Creator and Preferver of 
India, however, this fublime truth beams 
forth with a luftre which no phyfics have 
been able to obfcure. Poffibly hereafter, too, 
it may appear, that, as their fyftem of phi- 
lofophy allows not of the abfolute definition 
of any objett in nature, but afferts, that only 
a change of being takes place, the character of 
Seeva, as a deftroyer, may be found inconfif- 

C 3 tcn t 



[ 3* I 

tent with their principles ; and that, however 
mifconceived in their prefent corrupted fyftem 
of devotion, and however degraded by fym- ! 
bols equally hoftile to all religion and all mo- 
rality, their third hypoftafis was originally 
intended only to fymbolize the quickening and 
regenerative power of God. This hypothecs 
is rendered exceedingly probable by the cir- 
cumftance of fire, the emblem of life, be- 
ing the true and ancient fymbol of Seeva, 
whence the oldeft pagodas, ereded in honour 
of him, are invariably pyramidal. It k not, 
however, alone the expreffive emblem of fire 
which marks the chara&er of Seeva to have 
originally fhadowed out the quickening, rather 
than the dejiroying, power of God, or rather 
the God himfelf of life and death \ for, in 
the Hindoo cofmogony, all the three perfons 
in this Indian triad are reprefented as being 
prefent during that folemn aft and thus are 
they depi&ed on Mr. Holwell's nrft plate il- 
luftrative of that event. Now, as a deftroy- 
er, what employment could there be for Seeva 
during the creation of the world ? although, 
in the exertion of the vivifc energy, there is 
obvious occafion for the prefence of a being 
whofe peculiar fun&ion it is to fow the feeds 
of embryo life, and give form and motion to 

inert 



[ 39 1 

inert and fliapelefs matter. In this inveftiga- 
tion I am deeply fenfibte of the dangerous 
ground upon which I have to tread ; and, 
! though it may not be in my power, nor do I 
pretend, to obviate every difficulty, yet, in 
the courfe of it, I am confident that I (hall 
be able firmly to eftablifh the general pofi- 
tion, that the Indian, not lefs than the other, 
triads of Afia, are but pcrverfions of one 
grand primeval doctrine. My humble but 
earneft efforts (hall be exerted to explore, and 
trace back to its remoteft fource, this rnyfte- 
rious do&rine, which is to be fought for 
in a very different country from Greece. 
In h£t 9 that fource muft be explored, and 
I can alone be found, in the firft-known re- 
velations of the Deity to the human race, 
and in the moft ancient traditions and hi- 
eroglyphics of his highly-favoured people, 
the Jews. 

The underftanding of man can never be 
more grofsly infulted than when infidelity la- 
bours to perfuadc us, that a truth, fo awfully 
fublimeas that at prefent under confideration, 
could ever be the offspring of human inven- 
tion ; nor can hiftory be more violated than 
when it fixes the origin of this do&rine to 
the fchools of Greece. Equally above the 

C 4 boldeft 



[ 40 ] 

boldeft flight of human genius to invent, as 
beyond the molt extended limit of human in- 
tellect fully to comprehend, is the profound 
myftery of the ever-blefied Trinity, Through 
fucceffive ages it has remained impregna- 
ble to all the {hafts of impious ridicule, 
and unfhaken by the bolder artillery of blaf- 
phemous invedftive. It is ever in vain that 
man effays to pierce the unfathomable arcana 
of the fkies. By his limited faculties and fu- 
perficial ken, the deep things of eternity are 
not to be fcanned. Even among Chriftrians 
the facred Trinity is more properly a fubjeit 
of belief than of investigation, and every at- 
tempt to penetrate into it, , farther than God 
in his holy word has exprefsly revealed, is at 
beft an injudicious, and often a dangerous, 
effort of miitaken piety. If we extend cur 
eye through the remote region of antiquity, 
we fliall find this very doftrine, which the 
primitive Chriitians are faid to have borrowed 
from the Platonic fchool, univerfally and im- 
inemorially flcurifhing in all thofe eafterh 
countries where hiftory and tradition have 
united to fix thofe virtuous anceftors of the 
human race, who, for their diftinguifihed at- 
tainments in piety, were admitted to a fami- 
liar intercourfe with Jehovah, and the angels 

the 



[ 4i ] 

the divine heralds of his commands : fome 
converting with the Deity, face to face, upon 
earth ; and others, after beholdidg the divine 
afpedt in the veil of mortality, caught up 
into heaven, without tailing of death, its 
appointed doom, to contemplate, with nearer 
view, and with more intenfe fervour, the be- 
atific glory. To Adam, in the flats of inno- 
cence, many parts of the myfterious economy 
of the eternal regions were, by the divine 
permiffion, unfolded ; nor did his mind, at 
the fall, loofe all impreffion of thofe wonder- 
ful revelations which had been gradually im- 
parted to him y for, the remembrance of his 
paft enjoyment and forfeited privileges, doubt- 
lefs, formed one affii£ting part of his punifli- 
ment. It was in that happy ftate, when 
man's more refined and perfect nature could 
better bear the influx of great celeftial truths, 
that the awful my fiery was revealed to him, 
and it came immediately from the lips of that 
divine; Being, the mighty AvroQeos, or Self- 
existent, who, by his holy Word, cre- 
ated all things, and animated all things which 
he had created by that energetic and pervading 
spirit which emanated from himfelf. It was 
at that remote period that this holy doctrine 
was Jirji propagated and moft vigoroufly 

flourifhcd : 



[ 42 ] 

flouriflied >, not in the fchool of Plato, not 
in the academic groves of Greece, but in the 
facred bowers of Eden, and in the awful 
fchool of univcrftl nature, where Jehovah 
-hirnfelf was the inftrufltor, and Adam the 
heaven-taught pupil. W ith the holy perfona- 
ges that co mpofe the Trinity he is reprefented 
d% freely converting, during all the period that 
he remained in a ftate of innocence, while the 
refulgent glory of the divine Shechinah, 
darting upon him its direft, but tempered, 
rays, encircled, with a flood of light, the en- 
raptured protoplaft, formed in the image and 
fimilitude of his Maker. But, as he faw the 
radiance of the divine Triad in innocence 
with inexpreffible joy, fo, when fallen from 
that ftate of primeval re&itude, he beheld it 
with unutterable terror; efpecially at that 
awful moment when the fame luminous ap- 
pearance of Deity, but arrayed in terrible 
majefty, and darting forth feverer beams, 
fought the flying apoftate, who heard, with 
new and agonizing fenfations, the majeftic 
voice of Jehovah Elohim, literally the Lord 
Gods, walking in the garden in the cool of the 
day, 

'For the hiftory of the Chriftian Trinity 
itfelf, the various do&rines propagated re- 
lative 



[ 43 1 

lative to it in the early ages after Chrift, 
and the contefts which ever fince have not 
ceafed to agitate the church from the third 
century to the prefent day, the reader will 
confult Bilhop Bull, Molheim, and its moft 
fuccefsful modern defender, Bifhop Horf- 
ley. My obfervations will be confined as 
much as pofiible to the moft early Jew- 
ish notions of this holy myftery, and the 
degradation and proftitution of it, either in 
do&rine or by fymbols, among the Gen- 
tiles, 

It has been obferved by Grotius, that 
Chriftianity is only the completion of the Jew- 
ijhlaw* we may, therefore, with the great* 
eft reafon, expeft to find fo predominant 
a feature in the Chriftian, decifively marked 
in the Hebrew, fyftem of theology. In re* 
ality, the diligent inveftigator of the Old 
Teftament will find it to be fufficiently 
marked for the exercife and edification of 
his faith. It would probably have been, 
in more decifive language, infilled on in the 
writings of Mofes, and in the venerable pro* 
phets who fucceeded him, but for a rea- 
fon very forcible, although not generally at- 
tended 

* Vide Grotius de Veritate, lib. i. fe£t. 14. 



[ 44 1 

tended to. So unhappily prone were the 
great body of the Hebrew nation to run 
into the grofs and boundlefs poiytheifm in 
which their pagan neighbours were immerfed, 
that the greatelt caution and delicacy were 
neceflary to be obferved in inculcating a 
doctrine, which might poiTibly be perverted 
to perpetuate and to fanclion thofe errors. 
Continually violating the two grand injunc- 
tions which ftand fore mo ft in the Deca- 
logue, the vulgar jews were incapable of 
comprehending fo exalted and myfterious a 
truth. Even amidft the awful and terrify- 
ing fcenes that were tranfacting on the illu- 
mined fummit of Sinai, though they fa<w the 
glory and heard the <voice y yet could not all 
this ftupendous difplay of Almighty power 
reftrain the madnefs of their idolatry. From 
age to age, however, through all the periods 
of their empire, difperfed as they were through 
every clime, and languifiiing under every vi- 
ciffitude of fortune, this threefold diftinction 
in the Deity was confeffed by the rabbies in a 
variety of writings and by a multitude of em- 
blems. 

In fact, this fublime doctrine is far from 
being only obfcurely glanced at in the Old 
Teitament. The intelligent and learned Jew 

well 



[ 45 1 

well knows this, and would acknowledge 
it, were he not bound down in the fetters 
of national bigotry, and were he not infpired 
from his very infancy with fentiments of the 
bittereft rancour againft the defpifed Mefliah 
of the Chriftians. But whence originated 
this rooted contempt and averiion to the 
meek, the amiable, the beneficent, Mefliah? 
The perverted imaginations of their ambi- 
tious forefathers had inverted the Mtjftah whom 
they expefted with all the gorgeous trappings 
of temporal grandeur- Inftead of the bene- 
volent Jefus, the Prince of peace, they ex- 
pected a daring and irrefiftible conqueror, 
who, armed with greater power than Caefar, 
was to come upon earth to rend the fetters in 
which their haplefs nation had fo long groan- 
ed, to avenge them upon their haughty op- 
preflbrs, and to re-eftablifh the kingdom of 
Judah upon the ruin of all other kingdoms. 
The Shiloh, for whofe coming the breafl: of 
the impatient Ifraelite of old panted, would 
not, they conceived, appear . in lefs regal 
fplendour than the magnificent Solomon, nor 
with iefs military array than the triumphant 
Joftiua. They believed, that, immediately 
on his advent, he was to elevate his im- 
mortal ftandard upon the facred hill, and 

that 



r 46 ] 

that his vi£torious legions were to march 
againft: and exterminate all oppofers of his 
claim to univerfal fovereignty. Thus an em- 
pire, which Jehovah had declared (hould be 
founded in benevolence and equity, was, by 
the infatuated Jews, confidered as about to 
be eftabliftied by a wanton profufion of hu- 
man blood, and fupported by the moft fla- 
grant defpotifm. Happily for mankind, the 
Almighty Mind was inflamed with no fuch 
fanguinary and vindidlive fentiments againft 
his rebel fubje&s. Inftead of the crimfon 
banner of deferved wrath, the white flag of 
conciliation and pardon was difplayed on 
the facred heights of Salem. The Gentiles, 
obeying the fummons, joyfully enlifted be- 
neath that banner, and are gathered into the 
garner of their heavenly Father; while the 
obftinate Jews, ftill fpurning the divine prof- 
fer, are fcattered over the earth, and view, 
with mingled rage and indignation, the eleva- 
tion and profperity of the defpifed fe£l of 
the Nazarene. Animated by this fpirit of 
rancour againft Chriftianity, they have, with 
tmparalled audacity, proceeded to mutilate 
their moft venerated records, and involve 
whatever evidence could be brought, in fa- 
vour and fuppcrt of its leading doctrines 

from 



[ 47 3 

from their early opinions, traditions, and 
writings, in a labyrinth of inextricable con- 
fufion, or entirely to bury that evidence in 
an abyfs of impenetrable darknefs. They 
have even dared to pronounce that the true 
fenfe of the facred volumes themfelves can 
only be found in the degrading comments 
and bafe forgeries of their interpreting 
rabbies, who lived in the early ages after 
Chrifi. 

With the elaborate produ<5lions of my 
learned predeceflbrs on this difputed ground 
I have not the prefumption to attempt an 
idle competition; but, as this book will 
probably go to a region of the earth where 
thofe excellent authors cannot be obtained^ I 
lhall endeavour to ftate, in the cleareft and 
moft concife manner poffible, what are the 
genuine and avowed fentiments of the Chris- 
tian church, and of all its fincere adhe- 
rents, relative to this do&rine, which, as 
I obfcrved before, is a my fiery to be be- 
lieved, rather than a Speculative do&rine to 
be agitated in warm and embittered contro- 
verfy. 

The Chriftian religion inculcates the be- 
lief of one God, eternal, infinite, om- 
nipotent, without the leaft ihadow of im- 

pezfe&ion 



[ 4§ ] 

perfe£tion in his nature, and without the 
remoteft poffibility of viciffitude. The fa- 
cred Scriptures, however exprefs upon the 
fubjeft of the Unity of the Godhead, as 
decidedly affert that there are, in the di- 
vine nature, three difiinB bypo/iafes, or per~ 
fons, whom they denominate the Father, 
the Son, or Word of God, and the Holy 
Spirit. To each of thefe facred perfons, 
individually, all the effential attributes and 
all the peculiar operations of Deity are af- 
ferted to belong. The Father is the great 
fountain of the Divinity. The Son and 
the Holy Spirit are emanations from that 
fountain : not divifible from their fource, but 
eternally exifting in it, and infeparably united 
to it. To maintain that the three perfons 
in the facred Trinity are of a different na- 
ture, that they can by any poffible means be 
feparated, or that there exifts more than one 
Fountain or Principle in the Divinity, is, as 
Bifhop Bull has obferved on this profound 
fubje£l, grofs Tritheism j* a doftrine ut- 
terly repugnant to that fyftem of religion, of 
which the Unity of the Godhead forms the 

predominant 

* See Bifhop Bull's Defenf. Nic. Fid. paflim, but particularly 
his Difcourfe on the Trinity, in his Sermons, vol Hi. p. 829, edit. 

©a. 1713. 



I 49 1 

predominant feature. The Chriftian Trinity, 
therefore, ' is not a Trinity of principles, like 
that of the Perfian philofophers ; it does not 
confift of mere logical notions and inadequate 
conceptions of Deity, like that of Plato ; but it 
is a Trinity of fub'fiftences, or perfons, joined 
by an indiiibiuble union. As it is againft the 
divinity of the fecond and third perfons in this 
holy Triad that inveterate fcepticifm princi- 
pally points its ■ rafti inveftive, let us take a 
curfory review of the qualities and offices 
afcribed to them in the facred writings. 

It is neceflary ever to be remembered, that, 
when thofe writings denominate one perfon, in 
the Trinity, the jrfl, another the fecond, and 
another the third, they muft not be understood 
as if fpeaking of a priority of time or of nature, 
which would imply feme fort of dependence,' 
but only of a priority of emanation. The fecond 
perfon, indeed, is faid to have proceeded from 
the nrft, and the third from the nrft and fe- 
cond : yet from this expreffion it by no means 
follows that they were created beings, for, in 
that cafe, to pay them any adoration would 
do briefs be to lubftantiate the charge which 
our opponents bring agaimi thofe who" worfhip 
I the Trinity, and involve us in all the guilt of 
' implicated idolatry. It cannot be (aid of 

D them. 



! 



[ so 3 

them, as of created agents, erat quando non 
erant ; or that they once were not ; fince their 
going forth is faid to have been from all eter- 
nity. They were, confequently, eternal and 
neceflary emanations, co-eval and co-effentiat 
with the fublime Being from whom they 
emanated: not circumfcribed in their powers, 
not limited in their duration, which is the 
proper defcription and charafteriftic of created 
intelligences ; but unlimited as the boundiefs 
univerfe which they animate and direft* inde- 
finable in the extent of their operations j and, 
fince they never were created, fo it is impoffi- 
ble that they (hould ever be annihilated. 

To prove what is thus aflerted, texts need j 
not be multiplied. St. John, who feems to have 
compofed the particular Gofpel which bears 
his name, on purpofe to obviate fome rifing- 
herefies in the church relative to our Saviour's 
incarnation, exprefsly fays, In the beginning was 
the word, (or Logos,) and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. And, fince it 
is in the power of no created being to create , 
other beings; as the ftrongeft proof of his ^ 
divinity that could be given, he immediately 
adds, All things were made by him, and without ') 
him was not any thing made that was made * 

He 

* Johni. 2, 3. 



i 



f 51 ] 

He fums up the whole of this decifive evidence, 
in proof of the declared divinity of the 
Logos, by this folemn declaration : the Word 
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we 
beheld his glory.* This is the atteftation 
of one of that highly-favoured number of holy 
perfons who, having been on earth the con- 
ftant companions of Him, in whom dwelt all 
the fulness of the godhead bodily,^ be- 
held that glory break forth in unfpeakable 
fplendor, when, after his refurreclion, he 
afcended into the Ikies whence he came, and re- 
fumed his feat upon the eternal throne. Of his 
unity with the Father, what terms can poffi- 
bly be more pointed and exprefs on the fubject 
than thofe made ufe of by the incarnate Logos 
himfelf,, by him who came to be a pattern of 
humility to men, and with whofeaffumed cha- 
racter every fpecies of improper boafting was 
totally incompatible? Yet, upon an occafion 
that feemed to demand the unqualified avowal 
of his immortal rights and dignity did the meek 
Meffiah, in this emphatic and unequivocal lan- 
guage, affect his high rank in that univerfe 
which he had made: I and my Father are 
PNE.+ The Holy Spirit is called the fpirit of 

D 2 truth, 



* Johni. H . + Co!cff.ii. 9. t j 0hnx . }Q , 



[ 5* 1 

truth, WHO PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER.^ 

The divinity and rank of this important per- 
fonage of the Trinity are repeatedly declared 
in holy writ ; and his character and attributes 
are fan&ioned in the moft awful manner. To 
lie to the Holy Ghost is exprefily faid to lie 
unto God,f and all manner of blafphemy but 
that againjt the Holy Ghost jhall be forgiven. 
He was likewife prefent and aBivHy affifting 
in the great and godlike work of creation ; for, 
the spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
waters.% As by the word of the Lord the hea- 
vens were made, fo were all the hoft of them by 
the breath (in Hebrew the spirit) of his 
mouth. % 

Equally rapid and energetic in his opera- 
tions, the Holy Spirit is the more. imme- 
diate agent between the divine mind and that 
portion of it which animates the human form. 
He is the munificent difpenfer to mortals of 
all the more fplendid excellences and amiable 
endowments that adorn and illuftrate our na- 
ture. He is reprefented as an excellent Spirit, 
the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of wifdbm, 
the Spirit of burning. It was this biefied 
Spirit that iffued from the opening heavens 

in 



* John xv. 26. 
% Ger.efis i. 2. 



f A&s v. 3, 4. 
§ Pfalms xxxiii. 6. 



[ 53 3 

in the form of the fpotlefs dove, and, alighting 
in beams of glory upon the head of our Sa~ 
viour, corroborated the folemn and public at- 
teftation of Jehovah, that He was his belovea 
Son. It was this Spirit that diffufed the radi- 
ance of the Shechinah round the fame dig. 
nified Meffiah when he was transfigured in the 
high and remote mountain, and when the a.fto- 
niftied difciples, who accompanied him, beheld 
his altered viftge Jhining like the fun, and his 
raiment white as light. He was the rujhing 
mighty wind, that defcended from heaven, and 
filled all the houfe in which the apoflLs were 
affembled. He was the luminous fpkndor that 
fat upon each of them, and, while it imparted 
a ray of aetherial fire to their bofoms, can fed 
their loofened tongues to pour forth a fponta- 
neous flood of heaven-taught eloquence. 

The fceptic affirms, that this doctrine of a 
Trinity in Unity is contrary to reafon, and he 
cannot give his affent to a manifeft contradic- 
tion. But, in anfwer to this, it has been re- 
peatedly and forcibly urged, that a doftrine, 
which, as. I have juft remarked, foars far above 
the limited powers of our weak reafon to 
comprehend, may yet by no means be contra- 
diclory to that reafon of which we fo arrogantly 
i boaft. Mankind, in this point, deaiandmore 

D 3 rigid 



t 54 3 

rigid proofs than on any fpeculative points 
whatever, concerning which the ingenuity of 
the human mind may choofe to debate, can 
poffibly be obtained. The queftionis, whether 
the fubje£t ought to be brought to this ftan- 
dard, and whether it is poffible to be fathomed 
by that reafon. If divines alTerted that there 
are three Gods, that would indeed be a direct 
and palpable contradiaion ; but we may furely, 
without violating reafon, maintain that there 
are, in the divine efience, three diftina hy- 
poftafes. The doarine of the Antipodes was 
denied, till a better acquaintance with the true 
form of the earth and the principles of gravi- 
tation and attraaion evinced the certainty of 
it. To a man, ignorant of the principles and 
rules of geometry, it muft appear impoffible to 
meafure the diameter of the earth } for, he 
would naturally inquire where was the vaft 
line that fhould be drawn over the furface of fo 
bulky a fphere. It muft appear ftill lefs prac- 
ticable to extend through the regions of fpace 
the line of menfuration, accurately to compute 
the diftances, and correftly to defcribe the 
magnitudes, of the fnining orbs that revolve 
through them; yet has the former been done 
without the immediate aid of the line and the 
rule, and the latter by means of the fame 

fcience 



[ 55 ] 

fcience applied to aftronomy. The Laplander 
cannot conceive that life can poffibly be fuf- 
tained under the diredt fervours of an equinoc- 
tial fun ; nor can the fcorched inhabitant of 
the Tropic at all comprehend how water (hould 
I be bound in icy fetters. The latter would pro- 
bably deem it the height of madnefs to aflat, 
that, clothed in fur, the hardy progeny of 
Ruffia and Lapland drive the rapid fledge, 
j drawn by rein-deer, over mountains of ftagnant 
| water; or that fo oppofite an element as fire, 
; for whole nights, fliould glow with unabated 
vigour upon the furface of thofe icy fields, the 
fureft defence of the traveller againft the fierce 
and predatory beads of the defert. The cir- 
i cumftances thus enumerated may exhibit to 
fuperficial inquiry an apparent contradiction $ 
but, thence, the abfolute impoflibility of fome, 
and the utter impra&icability of others, are 
by no means to be inferred.* 

In the vaft field of nature, and in the wide 
circle of science, a thoufand perplexing phse- 
nomena daily occur; of which, though our 
reafon cannot refolve the myftery, we do not 
deny the exiftence. Both nature and fcience, 

D 4 however, 

* See this matter fet in a clear point of view in Dr. Bedford^ 
| Sermons in the Defence of the Trinity, preached at Lady Mover's 
j Lectures, p. 2j> et feq. 



[ 56 3 

however, exhibit objects which may affift weak 
human intellect in its endeavour to form fome 
faint conception of this important truth. 
From the latter, a ftriking inftance has been 
repeatedly adduced in the geometrical figure, 
the equilateral triangle, of which the three 
fides are equal in quantity, and, when united, 
exhibit one of the moft perfect figures in the 
power of art to form. Upon this very ac- | 
count, we are informed by Kircher, the Egyp- 
tians actually made ufe of the triangle as a fym- 
bol to defcribe the " numen r^o^ov-' the 
Deity in his three-fold capacity.* The 
former holds out to us the folar orb, in which, 
the three qualities of flame, light, and 
heat, infeparably blended, afford a noble 
iymbol of a higher union. Of created objects, 
iince there is none more noble in the uni- 
verfe than the sun, I fhall poffibly be excufed 
for referring alfo to that object for an eluci- 
dation of another magnified difficulty, ftarted 
by Arianifm again ft this myftery: that God the 
Son cannot be cc-eval with God the Father, 
becaufe the exiftence of any being, who pro- 
ceeds' from another, mult neceffarily com- 
mence later than that of the fource whence he 
proceeds, and that fuch very proceffipn evi- 
dently 

* See Kircher, in CEdip. iEgypt. vol. ii. p. 24. 



[ 57 1 

dently implies inferiority. Let the fceptic then 
erect his eye towards that heaven, againft 
which he aims the artillery of his weak wit 
or his futile logic, and furvey the sun diffufing 
through our fyftem his genial beam. Let 
his imagination, warmed by the furvey, travel 
back to that remote period, probably long 
antecedent to the formation of this globe, in 
which that orb, launched from the arm of the 
Creator, began to fill his lofty ftation in the 
fkies. Whenfoever that period commenced, 
co-eval with its exiftence, at the very inftant 
of its formation, emanated the vivifying 
ray that pervades and invigorates our whole 
fyftem. Indeed, were it poffible for us to 
forget our own noble code of religion, fo far 
as to join with the enthufiaftic adorers of that 
orb in ancient times, and believe it to be 
eternal, we muft own its R ay to have been 

ETERNAL alfo. 



CHAPTER 



[ 59 1 



CHAPTER II. 

In this Chapter is unfolded the Origin of that 
rooted Rancour and Contempt with which the 
Jews are inflamed againfl the Messiah.™ 
That infatuated People pay lefs Deference to the 
written than to the oral Law, which 
they affert to have been delivered to Mofes on 
Sinai. — An biftorical Account of the cele- 
brated Code of Jewijh Traditions collected by 
Rabbi Judah the Holy, and called the 
Misna. — Of the two Talmuds of Jerusa- 
lem ^WBabylon, and of thetwo Targums 
of Onkelos and Jonathan. — The former 
Tar gum the mofl concife and pure Par aphrafe^ 
the latter more dijfife, and fuppofed to have 
been interpolated. — A progrefjive View taken 
of the PaJJages in the Old ¥ejlament> ejlablijhing 
feme a Plurality, and others fo exprefs upon 
the Agency and Divine Attributes, of 
the Mimra, or Logos, and the Ruah Hak- 
kobesh, or Holy Spirit, as plainly to evince 
that a Trinity of Divine Hypostases, 

fubfiftmg 



r 60 ] 

fulfilling in the Godhead, mufl have been the 
Belief of the ancient Jews. 

T N the preceding chapter I have afTerted 
X that the learned of the Jewifh nation, in 
every period of their empire, knew and ac- 
knowledged the great truth which we are 
confidering ; that they applied, to the Meffiah 
whom they expe&ed, moil: of the texts and 
prophecies in the Old Teftament, which we 
confider as pointedly allufive to Jefus Chrift ; 
but that, to elude the force of the application 
of thofe texts to Him and their completion of 
thofe prophecies in his Perfon, they have mu- 
tilated their moft venerated records ; that they 
have even declared that the true fenfe of their 
Scriptures is only to he found in the com- 
mentaries of their celebrated doctors, and that, 
in fact, they hold the Talmuds compofed by 
them in higher veneration than the original. 
I havealfo hinted, that, if a doctrine fo im- 
portant as this in the Chriftian fyftem, a fyftem 
which in a great meafure is founded upon 
that of the Hebrews^ cannot be difcovered in 
thofe Scriptures in as great a degree as a nation , 
for ever relapfing into polytkeifm, would bear the 
revelation of it ; that its being a genuine doc- 
trine of Chriftianity will be liable to be fuf- 

pected 



i pe£ted by thofe who confider the one as in- 
j| feparably connected with the other. A patient 
I and candid examination of the whole queftion 
i will enable us to folve every difficulty and an- 
nihilate every doubt. 

It is neceffary to acquaint the reader, that 
! from that remote and memorable period in 
i which the divine Legiflator appeared to Mofes 
on Sinai, the Jews have regarded, in the mod 
facred light, a code of traditional laws, which 
they denominate oral, in order to diitinguifh 
them from thofe which are called written^ laws. 
They believe, that, when Mofes received the 
law from the Almighty, he alfo received cer- 
tain cabala, or my Serious explanations of 
that law, which he did not think proper to 
I commit to writing, but delivered orally to 
Aaron, to the priefts the fons of Aaron, and 
the afiembled Sanhedrim. While the former 
j was faithfully delivered to pofterity in the 
books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, 
the latter, imprinted by frequent repetition 
on the memory of thofe to whom they were 
thus orally intruded, were as faithfully de- 
livered down by tradition, from father to ion, 
and from age to age, till about the year after 
! Chrirt i8o, when a celebrated rabbi, named 
Judah the Holy, collected together thefe vari- 
ous 



[ 6 2 ] 

ous traditions, and, committing them to 
writing, formed out of them the voluminous 
compilation, holden in fuch profound venera- 
tion among the Jews, called the Misna, a 
Hebrew word fignifying regetitim. This holy 
doctor was the chief of the miferable remnant 
of that nation, who remained after their final 
difperlion, and after the total deftru&ion of 
Jerufalem and the temple. Judah was in- 
duced to this a£t by the jufl: apprehenfion, 
that, in their various difperfion and migra- 
tions through fo many provinces, and during 
the interruption of the public fchools, the 
traditions of their fathers and the rites of 
their religion fliould be obliterated from their 
memory. It was againft the rigid adherence 
of the Jews to the inftitutions prefcribed by 
thefe traditions, preferved with fuch anxious 
care and honoured with fuch profound vene- 
ration, to the great negledt of the precepts of 
the written law, that our Saviour repeatedly 
directed his animated cenfures: Full well ye 
rejedf the commandment of God, that ye may keep 
your own traditions. He ridicules their blind 
fuperftition in that refpedfc ; and, while he 
does not difcourage a decent attention to the 
wife maxims of their forefathers, he, in very 
decifive language, ftigmatifes the infatuated 

zeal, 



II 

I - ; j 6 3' 3 

zeal that wearied itfelf in a round of ceremo- 
nious obfervances of human inftitution, yet 
negle&ed the weightier matters of the law of 

j God. From this caufe principally arofe the 
implacable malice with which the fcribes and 

I pharifees purfued even to the crofs the daunt- 
lefs upbraider of their hypocrify, who, to the 
crime of being humbly born, added the aggra- 
vating offence of manly truth and inflexible 

| integrity. 

About a hundred years after Rabbi Judah 

! had thus confolidated into one body all the 
traditions in his power to colledl, under the 
title of Misna, which the Jews to this day 
honour with the appellation of the Second 
Law, and which in fad they hold in higher 
veneration than the Firft, another celebrated 
rabbi, of the name of Johanan, compiled a 
treatife called the Gemara. Gemara is a 
Hebrew term fignifying perficere, confummare \ 
that is to fay, this learned do<3or, by collecting 
all the remaining traditions of the Jews, as 
well as all the legal decifions of the Jewifh 
docftors on certain great points of controverfy 
relative either to their ecclefiaftical or civil po- 
licy, and by adding an ample comment of his 

| own upon the Mifna, completed the grand 
undertaking which Judah had begun. " They 

therefore 



[ H 1 

therefore (fays Calmet) call this work Com- 
pletion, PerfeBion, becaufe they confider it as 
an explanation of the whole law, to which 
there can be no farther additions made, and 
after which nothing more can be defired."* 
The Mifna and the Gemara, joined together, 
compote the Talmud, (that is, dodirinalej 
the grand code of Jewifh traditional divinity. 
Of thefe Talmuds there are two ; that of Je- 
rufalem, fo called from being compiled in that 
city, and the other, that of Babylon, becaufe 
the production of the Babylonian fchool. The 
former confifts of the Mifna of the Rabbi 
Judah and the Gernara of Johanan ; the latter 
of the fame Mifna, but united with the Ge- 
rnara, or completion of Rabbi Asa, who fiou- 
rifhed at Babylon about a century after Rabbi 
Johanan. The former Talmud is more con- 
cife 'and obfcure in its ftyle than the latter, 
which is, therefore, more in requeft among 
the Jews, whofe partiality to it may pofiibiy 
be increafed by the numerous legends and ro- 
mantic tales with which it abounds. Now, 
in what fuperior efteem, even to the facred 
volumes themfelves, thefe Talmuds are holder* 
by the Jews is evident from the following 

adage 

* See Qalmet's great Hiftorical, Critical, and Etymological* 

Pi'&itenar'y, under the article Gemara, vol. i. p. 598* 



[ 65 J 

adage recorded by Calmet, who fays, they 
compare c< the Bible to wafer, the Mifna to 
wine % and the Gemara to hypocras" Hypo- 
cras (or Hippocras, as it fhould rather be 
j written, fince the word is derived from its 
fuppofed inventor Hippocrates) is a kind of 
medicated wine, ufed in foreign countries, 
and enriched with the moft fragrant aromatics 
and the ftrongefl fpices. This proverbial fay- 
ing is amply iilnftrative of their real opinions 
i on the feoi e of thefe traditions, and decifively 
corroborative of the propriety of my former 
remarks. However high in the opinion of the 
Jews the two Talmuds of jerufalem and Ba- 
bylon may rank ; and however ftrong may be 
the proof, thus exhibited, that they have tranf- 
ferred to the oral law a great part of that ve- 
neration which their anceftors entertained for 
the written law j yet there are other produc- 
tions of Hebrew piety and erudition deferving 
ftiil more diftinguifhed notice, and far more 
venerable in point of antiquity than thefe. 

*om the Talmuds, involved as they are in a 
veil of fable and fu perflation, though, doubt- 
lefs, with fome fublime theological and moral 
I truths intermixed, no fubftantial evidence can 
; poflibly be adduced of their early opinions on 
j the grand point of theology under difcuflion; 

E or. 



r 66 3 

or, if any fli6uld appear, it muft be principally 
in the Mifna of Judah, The real fentiments 
of the more ancient Jews are only to be found 
in thofe two celebrated paraphrafes on the 
Hebrew text, called the Targums, the more 
ancient one bearing the name of Jonathan, 
and that lefs ancient, but not materially fo, 
the name of Onkelos. The Targum com- 
pofed by Jonathan is a diffafe commentary on 
the greater and lefs prophets; and was written, 
according to Calmet, about thirty years before 
the time of our Saviour. The Targum of 
Onkelos is entirely upon the Pentateuch, or 
five books of Mofes, and, both in its ftyle and 
mode of explication, is more concife than the 
former. They are both written in tolerably 
pure Chaldee, although that of Onkelos is 
reckoned more pure and is in moft efteem 
among the learned. That of Jonathan, how- 
ever, is moft in requeft among the Jews in 
general ; and is ftrongly fufpeded to have had 
additions made to it by the Jewifli doftors, 
who lived many centuries after Chnft. Thefe 
Targumim, therefore, but more particularly 
the former, muft be our only fure guide m 
inveftigating the unadulterated fenfe of the 
Old Teftament, and in exploring the genuine 
fentiments of the Jews. 

The 



[ 67 1 

The learned critic and Hebraift, Dr. Wot- 
ton, has remarked that it is bat fair to let the 
Jewiffi do6lors explain their own Scriptures, 
,and to receive their comments as the trueft 
expofitions of them, when there is no reafon 
to fufpeft any latent ill intention or improper 
bias fwaying the judgement of the commen- 
tator.* Undoubtedly a diligent attention to 
the vaft treafure of Hebrew traditional know- 
ledge, which the Mifna of Judah contains, 
has been of infinite fervice to Chriftian di- 
vines in explaining many difficult paffages of 
the New Teftament, and, in particular, thofe 
parts of our Lord's difcourfes and St. Paul's 
Epiftles which are fo direflly allufivc to their 
ancient cuftoms and traditions. Whatever 
objections, therefore, may be brought againft 
more recent expofitors, nothing of this kind 
can be urged againft the paraphrafes either of 
Jonathan or Onkelos; and if, as was before 
hinted, the text of Jonathan has been cor- 
rupted, we may depend upon it that nothing 
favourable to the doflrine of the Trinity has 
been added to it ; and, if any arguments can be 
found there to fupport that do&rine, they 
E 2 ought, 

* See the preface to Dr. Wotton's Difcourfes on the Tradition 
of the jews, vol. i. p. 8, edit. oft. Lond. 1728. 



[ 68 ] 

ought, on that very account, to carry with 
them a double weight of evidence. 

For my own part, I own that I have ever ' 
confidered the two firft verfes of the Old Tefta- 
ment as containing very ftrong, if not decifive, 
evidence in fupport of the truth of this doc- 
trine. Elohim, a noun fubftantive of the plural 
number, by which the Creator is expreffed, 
appears as evidently to point towards a plu- 
rality of perfons in the divine nature as the 
verb in the fjtgular, with which it is joined, 
does to the unity of that nature. In principio 
creavit Deus. With ftrift attention to gram- - 
matical propriety, the paffage fliould be ren- 
dered, In principle creavit Dii ; but our belief 
in the unity of God forbids us thus to tranflate 
the word Elohim. Since, therefore, Elohim 
Is plural, and no plural can confift of lefs than • 
h»6 in number, and fince Creation can alone 
be the work of Deity, we are to underftand 
by this term, fo particularly ufed in this place, 
God the Father, and the eternal Logos, or 
Word of God, that Logos, whom St. John, 
fupplying us with an excellent comment upon 
this paffage, fays, was in the beginning with 
God, and who alio was God. 

As the Father and the Son are fo exprefsly 
pointed out in the firft verfe of this chapter j 

fo 



[ 6 9 ] 

fo is the third perfon in the blefled Trinity 
not lefs dccifively revealed to us in the fecond. 
4nd the Spirit of God moved upon the face of 
the waters, Calafio renders this paiTage, Spi- 
ritus Dei motabat, &c. 5 but, as Dr. Patrick 
has rightly obferved, this is not the exadl 
meaning of the text ; for, the original verb, 
tranflated moved, fhould be rendered brooded, 
upon the water: incubavit, as a hen broods 
over her eggs * Thus, we fee, the Spirit ex- 
E 3 erted 

* It is tranflated by this very word in the Syriac verfion of the 
Hebrew text, as I find it in Walton's Polyglot, Xn the inter- 
lineary verfion of Pagninus, however, the verb <« motabat" is 
ufed. It is remarkable how varioufly both the verb itfelf and the 
preceding noun are rendered in the feveral Eaton tramlations 
inferted in that elaborate work; and this variety has probably given 
I rife to all the mifiaken ideas of the Gentiles on the fubjedh 
Thus, in the Samaritan verfion, it is rendered, « Spiritus Dei fe- 
rebatur fuper aquas ;» in which it agrees with the Septuagint and 
the vulgate Latin. From fome perverted notion of this kind, 
delivered traditionally down to the Indians, it has moll likely 
arifen, that, in all the engravings defcriptive of the Indian 
colmogony, Brahma is reprcfented floating on the abyfs upon 
the leaf of the facred lotos. Thus, in that fpirited and beau = 
tiful ode of Sir William Jones to Narayena, which, literally 
tranflated, he obferves, means the Spirit moving on the water, we 
find the following remarkable fianza, in which is combined the 
idea both of the mundane egg and the SpiriiUs incubans. It will be 
remembered that Sir Wilikro, in tins paflage, profeffes to give the 
principles of the Indian cofmogony, as he found them difplayed in 
the two raoft venerable Sanfcreet productions ot India,, Co often 

mentioned 



[ 7° 1 

erted upon this cccafion an a£tive effe&ual 
energy ; by that energy, agitating the vaft aby fs, 

and 'I 

mentioned hereafter, the Menumsriti, or Inftitutes of Menu, 
and the Sres Bhagavat. 

Firfl, an all -potent all-pervading found 

Bade flow the waters, and the waters flow'd. 

Exulting in their meafurelefs abode, 
Diffufwe, multitudinous, profound. 

Then, o'^r the vaft ^xpanfe, primordial wind 

Breath'd gently till a lucid bubble rofe, 

Which grew in perfect Ihape an e g g refin'd, 

Created fubftance no luch beauty lhevvs. 
Above the warring waves it dane'd elate, 
Till from its burfting ftiell, with lovely ftate, 
A form carukan flutter'd o'er the deep, 
Brighter! of beings, greateft of the great ; 

Who, not as mortals fleep 

Their eyes in dewy fleep, 
But, heav'nly penfive, on the lotos lay, 
That bloffom'd at his touch, and fhed a golden ray. 

See the whole of this Hymn in the Afiatie 
Mifcellany, p. 24. Calcutta printed. 

Men I have frequently obferved, is the Indian Noah, j 
and therefore the inftitutes, remembered from Menu, may be of 
an antiquity little inferior to the great patriarch himfelf. I have 
gone deeply, at the commencement of my hiftory, into all the 
Oriental cofmogonies, but particularly into that of India. The. 
remit, I truft, will be a proud addition of ftrength and glory to 
the Mofaic fyftern. Whether I mall obtain readers for that por- 
tion of my work, or indeed any part of it, is yet doubtful with 
me ; but, to prevent its being dull or tedious, I have endeavoured 
to infpirit that particular part with all the energy and animation 
that language can afford to dignify the lofdeft fubje& pcftble to 

be 



[ # I 

and infufing into it a powerful vital principle. 
I fhall, hereafter, (hew at large how generally 
throughout all the Oriental nations, but efpe- 
cially in Hindofran, this notion of the Spiritus 
incubam was adopted ; and whence, except 
from this primitive fource, can we deduce the 
doctrine of the ugv Tr^royovov^ or the primogenial 
e gg> f° particularly noticed in the hymns at- 
tributed to the Grecian Orpheus? 

I have afferted, that, to each of the facred 
perfons in the Trinity, fuch names are ap- 
plied, and fuch offices allotted, as are alone 
applicable to Deity, Of divine inherent pow- 
er, creation itfelf is certainly one grand proof* 
E 4 and 

be difcuffed, the birth of nature and of man. I have 
traced the Orphean egg to its genuine fource, and I have fnewn 
that the primitive cerulean form of India (for fo Narayen is 
painted) is no other than, the great Egyptian Deity, Cneph, 
who was reprefented, in their fymbols, as a being of a dark blue 
complexion, and thru/ting from its mouth the primaeval egg, whence 
the world was generated. But, to proceed in reviewing the re- 
maining variations in the Oriental verfions of the fecond verfe of 
the firft chapter of Generis. The Targum of Onkelos renders the 
words " Spiritus infufRnbat," and the Arabic has " Venti Dei 
flabant," all which very much refembles what we read in San 
choniaiho's Phoenician Cofmogony, of the dark and turbid air 
agitating the gloomy chaos and the impregnating wind Colpia, a 
word which Bochart very juftly fuppofes to be only a corruption of 
the Hebrew word Col-pi-jah, or the 'voice of God. Compare 
Walton's Polyglotta, torn. i. p. 2, edit. Lond. 1060, Cumber- 
land's Sanchoniatho, p. 14, and Bocjiart's Sacra Geog. lib. li. 
c. 2, quarto edit. i63i. 



[ 72 ] 

and the confounding of languages, which as 
certainly can only be the work of a Deity, is 
another. To thefe proofs it may he added, 
that prayer is exprefsly commanded in various 
parts of Scripture to be offered to each, and 
to each is feparately affigned the ftupendoi^ 
attribute of forgivenefs of Jim. Elohim, it has 
teen remarked, feems to be the general appel- 
lation by which the triune Godhead is collec- 
tively diftinguifhed in Scripture; and, though 
the auguft name of Jlhovah in a more pe- 
culiar manner belongs to God the Father, yet 
is that name, in various pans of Scripture, 
applied to each perfon in the holy Trinity, 
The Hebrews con£c?ered this name in fuch 
a facred light that they never pronounced it, 
and ufed the word Adonai inftead of it.^ It 
was, indeed, a name that ranked firft among 
their profoundeft cabala ; a myftery fublime, 
ineffable, incommunicable ! — It was called 
Tetragrammaton, or the name of four 
letters, and thofe letters are Jod, He, Vau, 
He, the proper pronunciation of which, from 
long difufe, is faid to be no longer known to 

the 

. 

* Their rrakirg ufe of this particular word Adonai, which is 
the plural of Adoni, and fignifies my Lords, is a circumtfance 
not to be paffed ovjr Lnnoticed, as it feems manifeftly allusive to. a 
plurality in Deitv. 



[ 73 1 

the Jews them felves. This awful name was 
i firft revealed by God to Mofes from the centre 
of the burning bufh; and Jofephus, who, as 
i well as Scripture, relates this circumftance, 
! evinces his veneration for it, by calling it the 
name which his religion did not permit 
1 him to mention."* From this word, the 
pagan title of J AO and Jove is, with the 
greateft probability, fuppofed to have been 
originally formed ; and, in the golden verfes 
of Pythagoras, there is an oath ftill extant to 
this purpofe, " By him who has the four 
letters/'^ The Jews, unable to overthrow 
the evidence of our Saviour's miracles, with 
unparalleled audacity aflert, that, when he 
was in the temple, he found out and ftole 
this ineffable Tetragrammaton, depofited in 
its facred receffes, which he inferted into his 
thigh, between the fkin and the flefh, and, 
by virtue of this taliiman, performed all the 
miracles which he wrought. As the name 
Jehovah, however in fome inftances applied 
to the Son and Holy Spirit, was the proper 
name of God the Father ; fo is Logos, in as 
peculiar a manner, the appropriated name of 
God the Son* The Chaldee paraphrafts tranf- 

late 

* Antiq. Judaic. Kb. ii. cap. 5, p. 61. 

f Ter^otKTvq. Vide Selden de Diis Syviis, Syntag. ii. c. j, 

I 
I 



[ 74 ] 

late the original Hebrew text by mimra da 
Jehovah, literally the word of Jehovah ; a 
term totally different, as Bifhop Kidder has 
inconteftably proved,* in its fignification and 
in its general application among the Jews, 
from the Hebrew dabar 9 which fimply means 
a difeourfe or decree, and is properly rendered 
by pithgam* In the feptuagint tranflation 
of the Bible, a work fuppofed by the Jews 
to be undertaken by men immediately infpired 
from above, the former term is univerfally 
rendered Aoyog, and it will prefently be e- 
vinced, that it is fo rendered and fo under- 
flood by Philo and all the more ancient Rab- 
bins. The name of the Third Perfon in the 
ever-bieffed Trinity has delcended unaltered 
from the days of Mofes to oar own time; 
for, as well in the facred writings as by the 
Targumifts, and by the modern doftors of 
the Jewifh church, he is fly led Ruach Hak- 
kodesh, the Holy Spirit. He is fometimes, 
however, in the rabbinical books, denomina- 
ted the Shechinah, or Glory of Jehovah. 
In fome places he is called Sephira, or Wif- 
dom ; and, in others, the Binah, or Under- 
ftanding.-f- 

From 

* Demonstration of the Mefliah, partiii. pages I cS, 109. 
f Dr. Allix's Judgement, p. 168, ubi fupra. 



[ 75 3 

From the enumeration of thefe circum- 
fiances, it muft be fufficiently evident to the 
mind which unites piety and reflexion, that, 
fo far from being filent upon the fubjea:, 
the ancient Scriptures commence with an 
avowal of this dodtrine, and that in fa£l the 
Creation was the refult of the joint opera- 
tions of the Trinity. I muft again remark, 
that any direft parallel between the Hindoo 
and Hebraic triad of Deity cannot be made 
wihout profanenefs ; yet it is worthy of no- 
tice, that Brahma, Veefhnu, and Seeva, in 
Mr. Holweli's plate illuftrative of the cre- 
ation, are all three reprefented, if not as co- 
adjutors, at leaft as prefent, in that ftupen- 
dous work; and the reader will poffibly agree 
with me in opinion, that the whole relation, 
which it will be my province to give at large 
hereafter, is, I do not fay a mutilation of the 
Scripture of Mofes, which poffibly the Brah- 
mins never have feen, but, certainly, a cor- 
ruption of fome primaeval tradition of the cre- 
ation of man, propagated by that defendant 
of Seth, who firft fettled in a country em- 
phatically called by Perfian writers " the pa- 
radifaical regions of Hindoftan." But of this 
as well as many other ftriking circumftance* 
of fimilitude beween the Hebrew, the Hin- 
doo, 



[ /6 I 

doo, and other Oriental, fyftems of the cof- 
mogony, I (hall have occafion to treat amply 
in the firft volume of my hiftory. 

If the argument above-offered fhould ftill 
appear to be inconclufive, the twentv-fixth 
verfe of this chapter contains fo pointed an 
atteftation to the truth of it, that, in my o- 
pinion, when duly confidered, it muft iiagger 
the moft hardened fceptic : for, in that text, 
not only the plurality is unequivocally ex- 
prefied, but the act, which, I have before 
oblerved, is the peculiar prerogative of De- 
ity, is mentioned together with that plurality, 
the one cireumftance illaftrating the other 
and both being highly elucidatory of this 
doctrine. And God (Elqhir) faid A let us 
make man in our image, after our iikenefu 
Vv by the Deity fhould (peak of hirafelf in the 
plural number, unlefs that Deity confided of 
more than one perfon, it is difficult to con- 
ceive ; for, the anfwer given by the Jews, 
that this is only a figurative mode of expref- 
6on implying the high dignity of the fpeaker, 
and that it is ufual for earthly fovereigns to 
uie this language by way of diftinclion, is 
futile, for two reafons. In the firft place, 
it is highly degrading to the Supreme Ma- 
jcfty to fuppojfe he would take his model of 

(peaking 



t 77 1 

fpeaking and thinking from man, though it is 
highly confident with the vanity of man to 
arrogate to hinifelf (as doubtiefs was the cafe 
in the licentioufnefs of fucceeding ages) the 
ftyle and imagined conceptions of Deity; 
and it will be remembered, that thefe folernn 
words were fpoken before the creation of that 
Leing, whofe falfe notions of greatnefs and 
fublimity the Almighty is thus, impioufly, fup- 
pofed to adopt. In truth, there does not feem 
to be any real dignity in an expreffion, which, 
when ufed by a human fovereign in relation 
to himfelf, approaches very near to abfur- 
dity. The genuine faft, however, appears 
to be this. When the tyrants of the Eaft 
firft began to affume divine honours, they 
likewife aflumed the majeftic language ap- 
propriated to and highly becoming the Deity, 
but totally inapplicable to man. The error 
was propagated, from age to age, through a 
long fucceffion of defpots; and, at length, 
Judaic apoftacy arrived to fuch a pitch of 
prophane abfurdity as to affirm that very 
phrafeology to be borrowed from man which 
was the original and peculiar language of the 
Divinity. It was, indeed, remarkably per- 
tinent when applied to Deity ; for, in a fuc- 
ceeding chapter, we have ftill more exprefs 

authority 



[ 78 3 

authority for what is thus afTerted, where 
the Lord God himfelf fays, Behold! the man 
is become as one of us: a very fmgular ex- 
preffion, which fome Jewifh commentators, 
with equal effrontery, contend was fpoken by 
the Deity to the council of angels that, ac- 
cording to their affertions, attended him at 
the creation. From the name of the Lord 
God being ufed in fo emphatical a manner, 
it evidently appears to be addreiled to thofe 
facred perfons to whom it was before faid, 
Let us make man ; for, would indeed the om- 
nipotent Jehovah, prefiding in a lefs dignified 
council, ufe words that have fuch an evident 
tendency to place the Deity on a level with 
created beings ? — Befides, if the authorities 
adduced by Allix, in fupport of the afTertion 
which he makes in page 78 of his Judgement, 
and thofe brought by Calmet under the article 
Angels, be at all valid, angels, in the opinion 
of the Talmudical Jews, were not created till 
the fifth day, immediately preceding the for- 
mation of man ; and thus a non-entity will 
be found to have been confulted. A ftill 
more complete anfwer, however, to this ob- 
jection, may, in my opinion, be found in the 
words of the great apoftle to the Hebrews, 
quoting the infpired Pfalmift : To which of the 

angels 



[ 70 1 

angels faid he at any time, sit thou on my 
right hand ? And there is, in the fame 
chapter, a wonderful atteftation of the divi- 
nity of the Logos, which, in this place, 
ought by no means to be omitted. Though 
Jehovah conferred not that honour on angels, 
yet to the Son he faid, Thy throne, O God, 
is for ever and ever I* 

It is now neceffary to defcend to fome par- 
ticulars, for pointing out which I am prin- 
cipally obliged to the indefatigable exertion and 
laboured fcrutiny of the author cited above. 
Thefe will incuntrovertibly prove, that the 
word Elohim was exactly thus underftood by 
Mofes himfelf and the ancient Hebrews, 
however their modern defendants may deny 
the allufion J that their own paraphrafts ap- 
ply the term Logos, in the very fame manner 
as we do, to the fecond, as well as that of 
Holy Spirit to the third, perfon in the blef- 
fed Trinity ; and that, in fad, they had the 
fulleft belief in that Trinity, expreffed in the 
moft emphatical language, and explained by 
the moft fignificant fymbols. 

Dr. Allix has, with great energy both of 
language and fentiment, remarked, that, al- 
though the principal aim of Mofes, in his 

writings, 

* Hebrews xii. 7. 



f So ] 

writings, was evidently to root out of the 
minds of men the prevailing notion of poly- I 
theifm, yet that he conftantly defcribes the I 
creation of the world in words that dire&ly 
intimate a plurality in the Godhead. Inftead 
of diftinguifliing the Creator by the appella- 
tive Jehovah, that awful appellative by which ' 
the Deity firft made himfelf known to Mofes 
in the burning bufh, and by him to his peo- 
ple, and writing Jehovah Bara, Jehovah 
created, he ufes thefe remarkable expreflions, 
Bara Elohim, the Gods created*, and, in 
the concife hiftory of the creation only, ufes 
it above thirty times. The combining this 
plural noun with a verb in the lingular, as 
has been before-noticed he had done, would 
not appear fo remarkable if he had uniformly 
adhered to that mode of expreflion ; for, then 
it would be evident he adopted the mode ufed 
by the Gentiles in fpeaking of their falfe gods 
in the plural number; but, by joining with 
it a Angular verb or adjeftive, rectified a 
phrafe that might appear to give a diredt 
fanftion to the error of polytheifm. But, in 
reality, the reverfe is the fa£t ; for, in Deu- 
teronomy xxxii. 15, 17, and other places, he 
ufes the Angular number of this very noun to 
exprefs the Deity, though not employed in 

the 



I [ 81 ] 

the auguft work of creation : dereliquit Eloah ; 
facrificaverunt damoniis, non Eloah** He like- 
wife diftinguifhes the Deity in various other 
paffages by other names, in the Angular num- 
ber 3 and, confequently, adds our author^ 
ts any of thefe names would have been, with 
more propriety and effeft, applied to root out 
polytheifm." But, farther, Mofes himfelf 
ufes this very word Elohim with verbs and 
adje&ives in the plural. Of this ufage, Dr. 
Allix enumerates two, among many other gla- 
I ring inftances, that might be brought from 
the Pentateuch ; the former in Genefis xx. 13, 
Quando erraqe fecerunt me Deus 5 the latter in 
Genefis xxxv. 7, Quia ibi revelati funt ad eum 
\ Deus.', and by other infpired writers in va- 
rious parts of the Old Teftament. But par- 
ticularly he brings in evidence the following 
texts, which the reader will excufe my citing 
at length, viz. Job xxxv. 10 ; jof. xxiv. ig p 
Pfalm cxix. i j Ecclef.xii. 35 1 Sam.vii. 23; all 
which, he obferves, " fhews the impudence of 
Abarbanel on the Pentateuch, (foh 6, col. 3,) 
who, to elude the force of this argument^ 
maintains, that the word Elohim is Angular," 
In this audacious afTertion, however, impu^ 

F dent 

* The reader will pleafe to take notice, that I continue to cite, 
j throughout, the Latin tranflation of Mario del Calafio, 



[ 82 ] 

dent as it is, Abarbanel has been firce flip- 
ported by the fynagogue and moft of the mo- 
dern Hebrew commentators upon the fubjeft ; 
but how abfurdly, and with what barefaced 
contradiction to the diredt and avowed opi- 
nions of their anceftors, will, as we advance 
farther in the fubjeft, be made decifively evi- 
dent. For the prefent, it may be fufficient to 
obferve, that the repeated addrefs of the di- 
vine Being to certain perfons, his co-adju» 
tors in the work of creation, before men, 
or even angels, according to the Jewifh be- 
lief, began to exift, as well as the exprefs 
words noticed in a preceding page, Let us 
make man, and in our image % and after- 
wards, Let us go down, and let us there 
confound their language ; are pointedly allu- 
five to a plurality, and, as our author ob- 
serves, " very- lively charafters of this doc- 
trine." 

If it (hould be denied that Mofes compofed 
his hiftory under the immediate influence of 
divine infpiration, it furely will be allowed, 
that he under flood the language in which he 
wrote, and that he could not poffibly be igno- 
rant of the purport of thofe laws which he 
promulgated. It muft, therefore, to every 
reader of refle&ion, appear exceedingly Singu- 
lar, 



I 83 ] 

lar, that, when he was endeavouring to efta~ 
blifh a theological fyftem, of which the Unity 
of the Godhead was the leading principle, and 
in which it differed from all other fyftems, he 
fhould make ufe of terms directly implica- 
tive of a plurality in it. Yet fo deeply was 
the awful truth under confideration imprefled 
upon the mind of the Hebrew legiflator that 
this is conftantly done by him 5 and, indeed, 
as Allix has obferved, there is fcarcely any 
method of fpeaking, from which a plurality 
in Deity may be inferred, that is not ufed ei- 
ther by himfelf in the Pentateuch, or by the 
other infpired writers in various parts of the 
Old Teftament. A plural is joined with a 
verb Angular, as in that paflage cited before 
from Gen. i. 1 : a plural is joined with a verb 
plural, as in Gen. xxxv. 75 And Jacob called 
the name of the place Bethel y becaufe* the Gods 
there appeared to him. A plural is joined 
with an adjeftive plural j Jorti. xxxv. 19 ; Tou 
cannot ferve the Lord*, for, he is the holy 
Gods. To thefe paffages if we add that re- 
markable one adduced before from Ecclefiaf- 
tes, Remember thy Creators in the days of thy 
youth 5 and the predominant ufe of the words 
Jehovah Elohim, or the Lord thy Gods, 
F 2 which 



E 8 4 ] 

which occur a hundred times in the law (the 
word Jehovah implying the unity of the ef- 
fence, and Elohim a plurality in that unity) 1 
we tnuft allow that nothing can be more 
plainly marked than this doftrine in the an* 
dent Scriptures, 

If Philo may be permitted to explain the 
national fcriptu es, we (hall find him ex- 
preflly faying what is here affirmed, "that 
the chief purpofe of Mofes was to over- 
throw the reigning polytheifm ; however, 
that, although God is one, this mu t be un- 
derftood with refped to nature rather than 
number 5 that his nature is incomprehenfible 
to man, becaufe, he has nothing in common 
with mortals, nor is there any thing in the 
circle of exigence to which we may poffibly 
liken, or by which we can properly compare 
or judge of, that nature."* Indeed, Philo's 
mind was fo engrofled with this idea of a 
plurality, and throughout his work he is fo 
exprefs upon the fubject of the Logos, not 
eonfidered as an attribute in the Platonic, 
but as a ferfon "in the Jewifli, fenfe of 
the word* that to cite all the paffages re- 

lative 

* Phllonis Ju&eide Sacra Legis Allegoria, lib.iii. p. 841, 
key, edit. 36230 i 



[ 8 5 ] 

Jative to it would be to transcribe the whole 
work.* 

I fhall now proceed to confider certain ob- 
jections which have been urged againft the 
word Elohim being confidered as allufive to 
the dodrine of a plurality in the Godhead. 
To the argument, that this word is fometimes 
in Scripture applied to angels, princes, jud- 
ges, and even to falfe gods, it may be re- 
plied, that Elohim, being the word more 
particularly appropriated to denote fupreme 
majefty and eminent dignity, and likewife the 
Jirongefl word in the Hebrew language that 
could be found to exprefs them, was one 
reafon which induced Mofes to make ufe of 
it 5 the other was, its having a plural fenfe: 
and his ufing this word, in preference to 
Eloah or Jehovah, near thirty times in the 
Ihort account* of the creation, feems to de- 
monftrate, that he meant it fhould imprefs 
the mind of the reader with the perfuafion 
that the creation was the work of more than 
one. But it may be urged, there is reafon to 
think, that the Hebrew and Canaanitifli lan- 

F 3 guages 

* There is fcarcely a page in the book of Philo, de Mundi O- 
pificlo, which does not expreflly mention the Logos as a perfon? 
but confult, in particular, pages 3, G. and 4, CD. of that book* 
and of the above-cited edition. 



[ 86 ] 

guages were, originally, the fame ; it is, 
therefore, the language of polytheifts ; and a 
plural title of Deity was naturally to be ex- 
pected from polytheifts. That the Canaan- 
ites were polytheifts there is no doubt; but 
it is certain, that the patriarchs, their ances- 
tors and the original poffeffors of the country, 
were not infefted with polytheifm, and it is, 
therefore, more than probable that Elohim, 
however afterwards degraded, by being ap- 
plied to falfe deities, was, in the firft ages, 
the fublime, appropriate, exclufive, appella- 
tive of the triune God. Dr. Allix informs 
us, that the Jewifh cabalifts conftantly add- 
ed to the word Elohim the letter Jod, being 
the firft letter of the name of Jehovah, for 
the fake of a my/Iery, as well as, according to 
one of their moft refpe&able commentators 
on the Pentateuch, the Rabbi Bechai,* to 
fhew that there is a divinity in each perfon in- 
cluded in the Word. 

The author of the book of Zohar, as quo- 
ted by Allix on this fubjeet, thus exclaims : 
" Come, and fee the myftery in the word 
Elohim ! There are three degrees, and 
every degree is diftindt by himself ; yet, not- 
withftanding, they are all one, and bound 

together 

* R. Bechai, in Gen, I 10, cited by Allix. 



E 87 1 

together in one, nor can they be feparated 
each from the other !"* Thefe Madragoth, 
or degrees, are the fame with what, in the 
Sephir Jetzirah, there cited, are called by the 
cabaliftic doflors the Panim, or faces, the 
Havioth, or subsistences, and the Profopin, 
or persons, in the divine effence. — But, not 
to wander from the fub]e£t more immediately 
under difcuffion, it is evident that the term 
Elohim, with the Jod, for Jehovah, added 
to it, contains fome latent myftery, which, 
fince the appearance of Chrift, the Hebrew 
doctors feem by no means willing to divulge. 
Indeed, the Rabbi Ibba expreflly fays that it 
does ; and adds, " This myftery is not to be 
revealed till the coming of the Median," A 
remarkable atteftation of this is given in a 
note to the Univerfal Hiftory,-f- from which I 
have extra£Ved Ibba's ftrong teftimony, and 
in which the learned authors inform us, that 
a certain rabbi, who, from the contrafled 
ftate of his circumftances, was obliged to 
get his livelihood by teaching Hebrew at 
Rome, when feverely charged with having 
betrayed the myfteries of his religion, in vin- 
dicating himfelf, among other things, proteft- 

F 4 ed f 

• Affix's Judgement, p. 170, et Synopfis Poll, p. 

f See Univerfal Hiftory, vol. iii. p. \z, ocl. edit. 1760. 



[ 88 ] 

ed, that he had never fo much as explained 
the firfl verfe of Genefis. Thcfe gentlemen 
have given their authority at the bottom of 
the page for this piece of intelligence, which 
the reader may, if he pleafes, confult. In 
the fame page, there is a very clear and con- 
vincing evidence adduced in proof both of 
a plurality and of a Trinity having been 
doftrines, though not openly taught, yet 
acknowledged in the ancient fynagogue. It 
is taken from the celebrated book of Zo- 
har above-mentioned ; and it is of fuch 
importance that I ihali prefently cite it at 
length. 

A formidable objection may be thought to 
arife from the Seventy (who ought to have 
known the true meaning of their own fcrip- 
tures) having tranflated Elohim by the word 
€>eog in the Angular. Formidable, however, as 
it may appear, it has been anfwered by their 
own Talmudifts in the Rabboth, who report 
that they thus tranflated it, left Ptolemy Phi- 
ladelphus (at whofe command the verfion 
was made) ftiould imagine the Jews to be 
polytheifts like the idolatrous nation over 
which he ruled. St. Jerome, likewife, doubt- 
lefs from good authority, in the mo ft early 
periods of the Chriftian church, averred, that 

tke 



[ 89 1 

j the Seventy concealed the do£trine of the Tri- 
| nity, for fear of offending Ptolemy, who was 
| a worfhipper of one God, and that they had 
I an additional incentive to do fo from the gene- 
ral prevalence, in that age, of the principles 
I of the Platonic philosophy. We have feen that 
| Abarbanel, to get rid of the difficulty alto- 
gether, denies Elohim ro be plural; but the 
inftance we have given, of it's being united 
! with verbs in the plural, affords a moft ample 
! refutation of fo unfounded an aflertion. If 
! this were in reality the cafe, why fhould the 
vulgar Jews be forbidden, as Maimonides fays 
they are,* to read the hiftory of the creation, 
left, underftanding it literally, it fhould lead 
them into herefy ? I muft, in this place, en- 
treat permiflion to remind the reader of the 
I remarkable circumftance of the Hebrew na- 
tion's conftantly uling the plural noun A- 
donai, fignifying my Lords, inftead of the 
ineffable name of Jehovah ; and, to conclude 
this account of the word Elohim, I fhall fub- 
join, that nothing can afford ftronger evi- 
dence of the general doctrine here laid down, 
than a remark which our author fays is com- 
mon among the Jews, viz. that Elohim is as 

i, if 

* Maimonides, cited by Allix, p. 132. 

1 ' 



[ go } 

if one fliould read El rem, that is, they 
are God. 

Independently, however, of the word EIo- 
him, there wants not the moft pofitive evi- 
dence, in variolas parts of Scripture, to prove 
that plurality for which we contend. Of 
thefe, many have been already given ; and a 
few, ftill more (hiking, (hall be now enu- 
merated. It is furely impoffible to read the 
following paffage, in the apocryphal book of 
Wifdom, without acknowledging the perfona- 
lity of the Logos. Thine almighty Word 
leapt down from heave?!, cut f the royal throne % 
as a fierce man of war into the midft f a land 
f de/lrucJion* An illuftrious comment upon 
the laft-cited paffage may be found in another 
part of facred writ, where it is faid, the Lord 
is a man of war, the Lord of Ho/is is his 
name. It is forcibly obferved by Allix, on 
the foregoing paffage, how evident it is, 
hence, <{ that the Logos muft be a perfon, 
and a perfon equal to the Father, fince he is 
faid to fit upon the fame royal throne."^ Je- 
hovah, we have feen, is the peculiar name 
of God, incommunicable to any other 5 yet> 
upon the devoted cities contaminated by the 

horrible 



* Wifdom xyni. 15, 16, 17. f AlHx's Judgement, p. 107. 



[ 9« 3 

horrible enormities of unnatural luft, it is 
faid that Jehovah rained from Jehovah 
brim/lone and fire out of heaven* The Jews in- 
terpret the former by the angel of the Lord 5 
but the applying to that perfonage the in- 
communicable name forbids fuch an interpreta- 
tion : and Dr. Bedford properly remarks upon 
the paffage, that, if a .plurality were not in- 
tended, thefe words, from the Lord, would 
have been omitted, or it might have been faid, 
from himfelf.f To the remarkable expreflion 
cited above, Remember thy Creators, may be 
added that in Ifaiah, Thus faith the Lord thy 
Redeemers,:}: and, in the fame book, thy 
Makers are thy hujbands, the Lord of Ho/Is is 
bis name.\\ A fimilar inftance occurs in Pfalm 
cxlix. 2, where the words, tranflated, Let If 
rael rejoice in him that made him, ftand, in the 
Hebrew text, Rejoice in his Makers. And 
thefe collective inftances give a noble and de- 
cided fupport to the preceding affertions rela- 
tive to the great creative Triad in the firft 
chapter of Genefis. In Pfalm ex. i, we read, 
The Lord faid unto my Lord, Sit thou on my 

right 



* Genefis xix. 24. 

f Dr. Bedford's Sermons at Lady Moyer's le&ures, p. 45, 
\ Ifaiah xliv. 24. II Ibid. Kv. 5. 



[ 92 ] 

right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot A 
Jhol- 3 which has always been confidered as' 
pointing to the Meffiah, and indicative of the ! 
plurality contended for. As if the great a- ' 
phftk of the Gentiles forefaw, that the de- 
generate progeny of the Hebrews, to whom 
he wrote, would, in fucceding ages, sndea- 
vour to degrade our Saviour to a created an- 
gel, and wifiied to annihilate at once the bafe 
hypothefis; he exclaims, To vhich of the an- 
gels /aid he, at any time, thou art my Scn % 
this day have 1 begotten thee ? Dr. Wallis, 
one of the moil able defenders of the T riU 
nity in the laft century, well obferves, on this 
paffage, that there is wide difference between 
a created, and an only -begotten, being % fince 
the begotten muft be of the fame nature with 
the parent, and, confequently, God * It 
was therefore no blafphemy, whatever the 
Jews might think, when jefus, apprifed of 
his high dignity, made himfelf equal with 
God. In the note alluded to above, the au* 
tbors of the Univerfal Hiftory contend, that 
the writers of the Talmud believed in a plu- 
rality, on account of the following anfwer 

given 

* See particularly a Sermon, on &is.fubje& J of Profefibr Wallis, 
preached before the univerfity of Oxford, and inferred in his Theo- 
logical Traces, quarto, 1690. 



f 93 ] 

given in that book to the queftion, why the 
throne of God, in Daniel's vilion, is in the 
plural number* / beheld the thrones exalted 
m which the Ancient of Days did Jit, whofe gar- 
I went was white as fnow. — ■ After feveral trifling 
| anfwers, which are there given as thefolution 
j of various learned rabbies, one of whom con- 
! tends, that the plural implies the throne of 
God and David, the lad and concluding an- 
j Aver is to the following purpofe : <c That it is 
j blafphemy to fet the creature on the throne 
I of the Creator, blefled for ever !" And the 
extrad concludes with thefe notable words : 
" If any one can folve this difficulty, let him do 
it ; if not, let him go his way, and not attempt 
1 it" The meaning, fay thefe authors, is too 
obvious to need explaining. I (hall conclude 
thefe more general obfervations, on the plu- 
rality averted, in the folemn, the dignified^ 
and decided, language of the Logos in Ifaiah, 
xliv. 6. Thus faith Jehovah, the Redeem- 
er, the Lord of Hosts, I am the first, 

AND I AM THE LAST j AND, BESIDE ME, 
THERE IS NO GOD ! 

The numerous inftances cited above are fuf- 
ficient to demonftrate, to the mind not blind- 
ed by vanity nor darkened by prejudice, that 
a plurality in the Deity is exprefsly afferted in 

the 



[ 94 ] 

the text of the Old Teftament. It remains 
to be proved, that the authors of the Targu- 
mim, from which books alone the fenfe of 
the ancient fynagogue can be collected, un- 
derftood the ancient Scriptures in the fame 
light. 

In the firilplace, it is remarkable that the 
Hebrew text, In the beginning God created, is 
rendered, in the Jerufalem Targum, by thefe 
words, By bis Wisdom God created an early * 
evidence of the authors real opinion, and a 
decifive atteftation in favour of this doctrine, 
Onkelos is not lefs decifive upon the perfona- 
lity of the Logos.* He does not, indeed, in 
the beginning of his paraphrafe, which I ob- 
ferved is more clofe 3nd literal than the others, 
ufe the term Mimra, which, in Chaldee, an- 

fwers 

* I pollers the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and ail the 
Eaflern verfions of the Bible, inferted in Walton's Polyglot, 
which I purchafed a: its ufaal high price, (nine guineas,) for the 
purpcfe of accurate comparifon and reference. The reader, how- 
ever, will be candid enough to reflect, that this ftupendous fubjeft 
cf the Trinity comes before me collaterally, among many other in- 
tricate mbje&s, and that I have not entered upon it by choice fo 
much as from neceifity. I therefore occafionally cite Dr. Allix, 
whofe depth of argument and extenfive Hebrew learning are indif- 
putable. On this point, of the beginning being tranllaied the Wif- 
aom y (combining evidence at oace fo wonderful and forcible,) I 
beg leave to refer for fuller information to his book, pages \6x> 



If 

; ; t w ] . • 

fvvers to the word Aoyozt but he all along li- 
terally translates the text by the verb amar % 
whence comes the noun mimra, and the dif- 
ference, ftibfifting between that word and 
dabar, has been before noticed: tc the for- 
| mer (to ufe the language of Allix) having a 
l natural and neceffary relation to the perfoni- 
fied Logos; the latter fignifying no more 
than the fpeech of God or of any human 
I being." 

If the reader fhould be curious to know 
i why Onkelos has not tranflated the word 
' berefcbit by kadmita, which fignifies the be* 
ginning of time, but by bekadmin, which fig- 
nifies THE ANCIENT Or THE FIRST,'*' Dr. Al» 

1 lix will inform him, from the book Zohar, 
the Rabboth, and other commentators, that, 
by this term, the Jewifh doctors underftand 
the Wisdom, whom they called cochma, or 
the second number, in the divine eflence, 
which emanated from the firit as from its 
fpring, and by whofe more immediate agency 
all that has being was formed.-}- To the third 
number, that is, the Holy Spirit, they give 

the 

* To this may be added the corroborative evidence of Philo, 
| who, in one place, diftinguiihes the Logos by the appellative of 
Confult Philo. de Confuf. Ling. p. 267. S. 

f Allbc's Judgement, p. 161 , ubi fupra. 



[ 96 ] 

&e denomination of Binah, or under- 
standing. All this immediately accords 
with- thofe remarkable words of Solomon, 
than which it is impoffible for any thing to 
be more clear or more pertinent : Jehovah, by 
wisdom, (that is, the cochma.) hath founded 
the earth ; by understanding (that is, the 
binah) hath he eftablifhed the heavens* There 
are two other paffages, in the book of Wrf- 
dom, equally remarkable and equally confonant 
with this idea of the Jewifh paraphraft, where 
the infpired writer exclaims, Give me Wisdom, 
that fitteth by thy throne j-j- and again, in the 
27th verfe of the fame chapter, Thy council 
who hath known, except thou give wisdom, and 
fend thy Holy Spirit from above? — Their 
rabbins explain thefenfe they entertained both 
of the union and operations of Deity, by af- 
firming, that God a£ts by thefe holy perfona- 
ges as the foul a6ts by her body , and they 
emphatically denominate them the two 
hands of God.J To one or other of thefe 
holy perfonages, under the name of Mimra 
or Shechinah, the word or the glory, but 
more particularly to the former, they afcribe 

all 

* Proverbs in. 19. f Wifdom ix. 4, 

X Rabbi Bechai, on the Pentateuch, apudAllix, p. 162, 



[ 97 3 

i all the mighty wonders performed for the de- 
| liverance of their nation, and all the fplendid 
| celeftial appearances which were alternately to 
| them the obje&s of exulting tranfport or of 
agonizing terror, as they obeyed or violated 
i the precepts of Jehovah. Wherefoever, fays 
| Affix, Jehovah and Elohim are read in the 
! Hebrew, there Onkelos commonly renders it, 
! in his Chaldee paraphrafe, the Word of the 
| Lord: the other Targums more commonly 
i defcribe the fame perfon under the title of 
1 Shechinah, which fignifies the divine habi- 
! tation. The Holy Spirit, he adds, if a few 
places be excepted, is generally diftinguifhed 
by his proper Hebrew appellative, Ruah 
Hakkodesh. A few of the mod illuftrious 
of thofe divine appearances mentioned above 
demand attentive confideration, fince an op- 
portunity will, by that means, be afforded of 
not only difplaying more complete evidence of 
this doftrine abfolutely exifting in the ancient 
Scripture, but additional teftimony of the en- 
tire belief in it of the ancient Hebrew com- 
mentators. 

The diftinftion between the words mimra 
and dabar has been already noticed j to which 
! it may be added, that there are fo many ao 
j tive personal properties, fuch as thofe of 

G commanding, 



t 9* ] 

commanding, anfwering, giving laws, iffuing 
forth of decrees, receiving of prayers, &c. af- 
figned to the Mimra, that to conceive of the 
Word alluded to in any other light than as a 
per (on would be the height of abfurdity. The 
queftion is, whether the Word, that thus ap- 
pears, is the divine Being whom we affert hirn 
to be. One of the moft early and remarkable 
of thefe divine appearances is that of the an- 
gel of the Lord, as it is there called, in a 
flame of fire, out of the midft of a bufft, to 
Mofes, as he was tending the flocks of Jeth- 
ro, his father-in-law. An unknown voice 
thus addreffed the aftonifhed (hepherd : J am 
the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, 
the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob j and 
Mofes, we are told, hid his face ; for, he was 
afraid to look upon God.* This pafTage, 
thus far cited, is furety as decifive on the fub- 
je£t as language can make it * but what fol- 
lows feems to be unanfwerable. In confe- 
quence of the ground being made holy by the 
awful prefence of Jehovah, Mofes is defired 
to put off his fhoes from his feet, and not 
to approach too near the confuming Shechi- 
nah of flame in which fat enthroned the 
Majefty of God. Through all the Eaft this 

cuftorn 

• Exod. iii. 6, et feq. 



[ 99 ] 

cuftom has immemorially prevailed, of enter- 
ing the temple of God, diverted of their fan- 
I dais, left any pollution adhering fhould defile 
! the pure abode of Deity ; and it is pra&ifed 
| by the Mohammedans at this very day. The 
! fpot, therefore, was to Mofes as the temple of 
God, and thence derived a peculiar fan&ity, 
which it could not have in confequence of the 
prefence of any created being whomfoever. 
! The Deity now proceeds to reveal himfelf by 
| the auguft appellative of Eh Jeh, or I Am, 
which is of the fame import with the incom- 
municable name of Jehovah. As we have be- 
fore noticed the derivation of Jove from Jeho- 
i vah, fo we may here remark, that the word 
ei, infcribed, according to Plutarch, on the 
front of the Delphic temple, and fignifying 
thou art y or poffibly only the contraction of 
ei Hh I am, was moft probably derived from 
this Hebrew title of God. By this appella* 
tive, Mofes was commanded to announce, to 
the defponding Hebrew race, their eternal De- 
liverer from the bondage of Egypt; and, when 
he himfelf feemed doubtful as to the real dig- 
nity of the perfon with whom he converfed, 
the Supreme Being manifefted his power by 
two awful miracles, the turning of his pafto- 
| ral ftafF into a ferpent, and the fmiting of his 

G 2 withered 



[ 100 ] 

withered hand with leprofy. That the di- 
vine appearance in this place is called the An- 
gel of the Lord, is an obje&ion of no vali- 
dity, fince the Logos was frequently thus de- 
nominated by the Jews, efpecially upon the 
folemn occafion of their exodus from Egypt, 
when the Angel of the Lord went before their 
camp, attended during the day by a column 
of obfcuring clouds, and during the night by 
a pillar of illuminating fire. The ancient 
Jews applied that term not to the perfon> but 
to the office which, according to the economy 
of the three perfons of the bleffed Trinity, 
he condefcended to affamej and that they 
thought he did condefcend, occafionally, to 
affume the form of an angel, is evident from 
a paffage in Philo de Somniis, where he ex- 
prefsly afferts, that the fupreme Ens, o $? h 
whom he had juft before termed Aoyog, fome- 
times put on the appearance of an angel to 
mankind, but that his divine nature remained 
ever unchangeable.* Philo, in various other 
places, exprefsly calls the Aoyog God, Gso^j 
and, it may be obferved, in one inftance 
ufes that remarkable expreffion, which he 
could never have written under other impref- 
fions than thofe of the plurality contended 

for, 

* Rev. xxii. 8, 9. 



f 

t MM ] 

for, hvr^og ®£o$, the second God* The Tar- 
gum of Jonathan is exprefs, in affirming that 
it was the Logos who fpake to Mofes $ and he 
! adds, the very fame Logos who spake, and 
1 the world was MADE.-f- But there is lefs 
occafion, on this fubjeit, to go for evidence to 
Hebrew theologifts and paraphrafts, fince it 
is notorious that the whole Jewifh nation 
unanimoufly affirm that God revealed himfelf 
G 3 to 

* Philonis ]udx'i, apud Eufeb. p. 190. I forbear to crowd 
thefe pafikges by citing the original text at length, as I am already, 
I fear, tranfgrefiing all bounds on this fubjeft, and my object is 
j not to difplay erudition, but to enforce truth. 

f It is evident, from this paflage in Jonathan, that the Targu- 
mifts confidered the Aoyes and the Wisdom as the fame facred 
perfonage. The Jerufalem Targum had faid, " In Sapikntia. 
creavit Deus or, God by his Wisdom created all things., 
Jonathan refers this aft to the Memra da Jehovah : but both 
mean the Messiah. There is in the pafTage cited in the text, 
between the Targums of Jerufalem and Jonathan, fo great a 
coincidence of fentiment and expreffion as muft excite ftrong fuf- 
picions in the mind of the reader, that either the one has copied 
from the other, or, what is more probable, that both are, in a 
great meafure, copies from fome ftill more ancient paraphrafe. 
Jonathan fays, " Et dixit Dominus Mofijls qui dixit, et fuit 
mundus; dixit, et extiterunt omnia; Sic dices hliis 
Ifrael." In the Jerufalem Targum we find, " Et dixit Sermo 
Domini Mofij Is qui dixit mundo, esto, et fuitj et 
qui dicturus est illi, esto, ft erit; Sic dices filiis 
KraeL" Here we fee plainly that the M 1 m r a, or S e r m 0, fpeaks ; 
! and therefore the Word muft mean a perfon, even " Is qui 
i dixit, et fun. 5 ' Vide Targ. Jonathan et HierofoU apud Wal- 
i toni Pclyglotta, tom.iv. p. io; 



[ 102 ] 

to Mofes face to face % which could not be true 
of a mere angel; and fince the Deity, when 
he promulgated the decalogue, with his own 
voice declared, I am the Lord thy God, 
who brought thee out cf the land of Egypt > and 
cut of the houfe of bondage. 

The next divine appearance univerfally 
afcribed to the Logos, or, as he is fometimes 
called, the Shechinah, both by the paraphrafts 
and by Philo, is that mod awful one when the 
law was delivered to Mofes on Mount Sinai, 
that is to fay, on the fame confecrated moun- 
tain firft called Horeb, from its drynefs and 
barrennefs, and afterwards Sinai, from the 
miracle of the burning bufh* Stupendous as 
was the divine code of legal inftitutions there 
delivered to Mofes, not lefs ftupendous and 
aftonifhing were the circumftances under which 
it was unfolded. Allufive to this folemn oc- 
cafion, that remarkable expreffion is ufed by 
Mofes, that Jehovah there talked with Ifrael 
face to face> nr^QtruTrov Kara. wg&frmwop 9 that is, 
perfon to perfon, as it is translated by the Sep. 
tuagint,f and as the Hebrew term, fignifying 

Jace, 

* From the Arabic sine, a bufh or thorn. See Patrick on the 
pafiagc, 

f Confalt the text of Grabe's Septuagint, Deut.r. 4; torn. a. 
edit. foi. Cxcnii, 1 707. 



t *° 3 1 

face, is always tranflated by them. This is a 
very fufficient anfwer to thofe, who, for them- 
felves and for the Jews, deny that the Logos 

' is mentioned as a per/on, notwithftanding he is 

' reprefented in our own Scriptures to be the 

I exprefs image of his Fathers per/on, and that 
St. Paul to the Corinthians fays, God forgave 
offences in the per/on of Chrift. The majefty 
and grandeur of the Logos in this appearance 

I are beyond defcription ; and evidently announce 
the defcent of Deity itfelf. Indeed it is equally 

! exprefsly and fublimely faid, that Jehovah 
defended in fire upon Sinai ; and, while the voice 
of the trumpet founded long, and waxed louder and 
louder, that he anfwered Mofes by an audible 

1 voice, which ftruck terror through all the camp 
of the aftounded Ifraelites. It was on Sinai, 
that the future Messiah manifefted himfeif 
in all the radiance of his proper unapproach- 
able glory. The mountain tottering on its 
bafe, and convulfed to the very centre; the 
tremendous and inceffant thunders that rent the 
air in peals louder than ever before or fince 
that day have vibrated on the human ear $ and 
the glare of thofe impetuous lightnings, at 
once magnificent and terrible, that darted every 
way from the incumbent Shechinah ; all evinced 

I the prefence of the fecond perfon of the glo- 

G 4 nous 



rious Trinity. The Jwfelt, and through all 
their generations have, with one voice, acknow- 
ledged, the awful truth. The commentators are 
decided that this was the Logos. Onkelos, on 
Exod. xix. 3, exprefsly fays, that Mofes " went 
up to meet the Word of the Lord;"* and, 
again, on Exod. xix. 17, " Mofes brought the 
people out of the camp to meet the the Word 
of the LoRD."f Jonathan is equally ex- 
prefsj for, on Deut. v. 5, he fays, « Mo- 
fes flood between them and the^ Word of the 
Lords"! but > on the 23d verfe of this chap- 
ter, he is glorioufly elucidatory of the national 
opinion as to this point. " After ye had heard 
the voice of the Word§ out of the midft of 
the darknefs on the mount burning with fire, 
all the chiefs of you came to me and faid, 
Behold, the Word of the Lord our God has 
fhewed us the divine majesty of his glory, 

AND THE EXCELLENCE OF HIS MAGNIFI- 
CENCE j AND WE SAVE HEARD THE VOICE OF 

HIS 

SeetheTargum of Onkelos in Walton's Polyglotta, torn. i. 

t Ibic *. P- 509, in occursum Verbi Dei. 

t " Ego ftabam inter Verbum Domini et vos." Targum of 
Jonathan, ibid. torn. iv. p. 327. 

§ Vocera Sermonis Dei. This plainly evinces that ths 
Word Diufl here alfo be undertook in a perfonal fenfe. 



[ *°S ] 

his Word out of the midst of the fire/'* 
What other evidence is ' neceffary to eftabliQi 
this as an appearance of the Logos i Yet very 
ample additional atteftation of it may be 
found in almoft every page of Philo ; but par- 
ticularly in his Treatife de Vita Mofis. 

The Jews invariably confidered the Logos 
as the peculiar Guardian of their nation, as the 
ceieftial Sovereign of their theocracy, and the 
almighty Captain of the armies of Ifrael. 
There is a very remarkable pafiage in the book 
of Jofliua, in which he manifefts himfelf 
under this latter military character. And it 
came to pafs, when Jojhua was by Jericho, that be 
lift up his eyes, and looked; and, behold! there 
Jlood a man over againjl him with his sword 
drawn in his hand : and Jojhua went unto 
him, and /aid unto him, Art thou for us or for 
our adverfaries? And he faid, Nay, but as 

CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF THE LORD am I 

now come, &c.*f* The words, captain of the 
Lord's hofl, are, by Ufher in his Annals, with 
lefs propriety, affirmed to mean, prince of 

THE 

* " Ecce, oftendit vobis Sermo Domini Dei noftridivinam ma- 
jeftatem gloris fus, et excellentiam magnificentice fuse, et vocem 
Sermon is ejus audivimus e medio ignis." Targum Jonathan 
apud Walton, torn. iv. p. 329. 

f Jpfh. v. 13, 14, 



E "6 ] 

the angelic bands. The divine appearance, 
on this occafion, is recorded to have an- 
nounced, what a God only could forefee, and 
what a God alone could accomplifh, the mi- 
raculous overthrow of the walls of Jericho 
before a very indifferent army, and without 
any provifion for a fiege. The period was now 
arrived when that highly-favoured nation, 
which the Lord himfelf. attended by the pillar 
of alternate darknefs and flame, with a mighty 
hand and a ftretched-out arm, had fo wonder* 
fully brought out of Egypt, and led through 
the deferts, was to take poffeffion of the pro- 
mifed land of Canaan. His appearing, there- 
fore, in military array, to the commander of 
an army, engaged in actual war, was pecu- 
liarly proper, and his being afterwards called 
the " Angel of the Lord," as he was in the 
former appearance to Mofes from the bufb, 
when the promife of Canaan was firft holden 
out, is alfo a remarkable circumflance. But 
the circumftance, mod of all deferving notice, 
is, that the very fame expreffion is ufed by this 
celeftial meffenger as in that appearance ; for, 
he faid unto jofhua, loofe thy JJjoe from off thy 
foot % for, the place whereon thou Jlandeji is holy : 
and Jofhua jell upon his face to the earth, and 

DID WORSHIP HIM. 

Now 



[ i<>7 1 

Now it is a folemn truth in theology, a 
truth acknowledged by the whole nation of 
the Jews, and a leading principle of Chriftianity, 
that the Supreme Being can alone be the obje£t 
of human adoration. However, therefore, the 
ancient Jewifti rabbins may have fometimes 
denominated the Logos the Angel of the 
Lord ; of which circumftance an advantage 
has been taken, by their modern defendants, 
to degrade the Son of God to the rank of a 
created angel ; it is evident that this appearance 
muft be that of the fecond perfon in the 
Trinity, becaufe he received the adoration of 
Jofliua. He did not fay, with the real, the 
created, angel that appeared to St. John, in 
the Revelation, See thou do it not ; for, I am thy 
fellow-fervant : worship God!* No: he did 
receive the adoration of Jofliua, and thus gave 
infallible proof of his being not a created being, 
but a Divinity ; that very Divinity of whom it 
is faid, Let all the angeh of God worjhip him ! 
Had this celeftial Form been of inferior rank, 
the worftiip thus offered to be paid by Jofliua 
was fo directly in contradiftion to the firft law 
afterwards given to Mofes, Thou fialt have no 
other gods but me> that it never could have been 
permitted. 

There 

* Rev.xix, 10, 



[ io8 ] 

There is another mod ftupendous mani- 
feftation of the glory both of the Father and ' 
of the Logos in the Old Teftament which re- 
markably claims our attention. It is that 
vouchfafed to Daniel in a vifion, in which arc 
difplayed the awful myfteries of that day, when 
the great Judge of quick and dead (hall decide 
the eternal doom of mankind. In the whole 
extent of human language there is no defcrip- 
tion fo fublimc and magnificent. 1 beheld till 
the thrones were fixed, and the Ancient of 
Days did Jit, whofe garment was white as 
Jhaw, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: 
bis thro?ie was like the fiery flame, and his wheels 
like burning fire. A fiery fiream iffued and came 
forth from before him: thoufand thoufands mi- 
nijlered unto him, and ten thoufand times ten 
thoufand flood before him : the judgement was fet, 
and the books were opened. As in the preceding 
paffage the first perfon in the holy Trinity is 
fo expreflly pointed out, fo is the second not 
jeis plainly defcribed in that which follows. 
Indeed it is deferving of notice that he is par- 
ticulariled by that very name, the Son of Man, 
which our Saviour fo often affumed during 
his incarnation, and which the Jews fo univeU 
fally applied to the Meffiah. And, behold, one 
like the Son of Man came with the clouds of 

HEAVEN, 



[ io 9 3 

heaven, and came to the Ancient of Dayss 
and there was given him dominion, and giory, and 
a kingdom % that all people, nations, and lan- 
guages, Jhould ferve him. His dominion is an 
everlajling dominion, which Jhall not pafs away, 
and his kingdom that which Jhall not be deftroyed! 
Dan. viii. 9, 13, 14. Upon this paflage it is 
obferved, by Dr. Lowth, that anani, or the 
clouds, was a known name of the Meffiah 
among the Jewifh writers, and there cannot 
be brought a more decided atteftation that the 
Son of Man, thus defcribed as coming in the 
clouds of heaven, was intended as a defcription 
of the Logos, than that which his own lips 
afterwards gave, when, in anfwer to the Jewifh 
high prieft, who had interrogated him, Art 
thou the Christ, the Son of God ? he not 
only dire&ly applied this paflage to himfelf, 
but adopted the very language of the prophet, 
Hereafter Jhall ye fee the Son of Man fitting on 
the right hand of power, and coming in the 
clouds of heaven. The high prieft was 
perfectly acquainted with thefe ancient no- 
tions of his fynagogue concerning the anani 
and the Son of Man 3 for, we are told, he 
immediately rent his clothes, faying, He hath 
fpoken blafphemy ! and the aflembled elders, be- 
ing afked their opinion, immediately declared, 

He 



C HO ] 

He is guilty of death. Matth, xxvi. 66, and 
preceding verfes. 

And now, Reader, having, from various 
paffages of the Old Teftament, proved the 
personal agency of both the Logos and the 
Holy Spirit, and having endeavoured tode- 
xnonftrate, by correft quotations from the 
two Targums, the one that of Jonathan, 
written thirty years before the birth of Chrift, 
and believed by many commentators to have 
been cited by our Saviour himfelf^ the other 
that of Onkelos, written in the firffc century, 
before thofe violent contefts, which afterwards 
agitated the church on this fubjed, broke out, 
that the ancient rabbies really ^ though fecretly % 
acknowledged the truth of the do&rine, which 
maintains that there are three diftinft hy- 
poftafes in the divine effence, to whom the 
auguft and incommunicable name of Jehovah 
is expreflly applied $ I might leave the whole 
of what has been thus offered to thy candid 

confideration, 

* The particular paiTage in which the Chaldee paraphrafe of 
Jonathan is fuppofed to be cited by our Saviour, for this reafon, 
becaufe- the Jews were better acquainted with it than with their 
original Scriptures, is that in Luke iv. 18, where he quotes 
Ifaiah lxi. I, relative to himfelf. Whoever will take the trouble 
of comparing the text of Ifaiah with Jonathan's paraphrafe, in 
Walton, will find that what is cited in Luke agrees much better 
with the latter than the former. 



[ ni ] 

confideration, and, in this place, clofe a di- 
greffion which may have long iince appeared 
impertinent and tedious. Having, however, 
thus extenfively entered into the fubject ; and, 
fome additional circumftances of great weight, 
never before publicly noticed, in the courfe of 
inveftigating the pagan Trinities, particularly 
that of India, having forced themfelves upon 
my notice ; I cannot refrain from launching 
out ftill farther into the ocean of Hebrew 
theology, and ftating thofe circumftances. In 
doing this, I may poflibly fubjed myfelf to 
much cenfure, as I certainly fhall incur great 
additional expenfe, which might otherwife 
' have been avoided, in regard to the bulk of 
this volume, and the fymbols illuftrative of 
my afiertions : Thefe, however, are to me 
confiderations of very inferior moment, if I 
fhall be thought to have contributed any thing 
towards the elucidation of an important doc- 
trine in Chriftianity. I muft again repeat 
that I did not feek out the fubjeft, but, from 
a confcioufnefs of abilities inadequate to the 
full difcuffion of it, would gladly have altoge- 
ther avoided it 5 but the operations of Brahma, 
Veefhnu, and Seeva, the great Indian Triad 
of Deity, occurring in almoft every page of 
the ancient Indian Hiftory, rendered it in- 

difpenfable: 



[ 212 ] 

difpenfable : for, to bring the matter to one 
fhort point, this do&rine came either from j 
the Hebrews to the Gentiles, or from the 
Gentiles to the Hebrews; and both con- 
viction and profeflion induce me to adopt and 
to defend the former hypothecs* 



CHAPTER 



[ "3 I 

■HI 

I 

CHAPTER III. 

| 3fi&* Invefligation continued) and the Statements 
in the preceding Chapter corroborated by a 
Multitude of corresponding Pajfages in the 
New Teflament.^The State of the JewiJJj 
Nation at the Period of the MefliaFs Advent. 
— "The principal Caufe of their Rejection of 
him Jlated to be their altered Sentiments 
concerning his Character, in Confluence of 
their Corruption by the fplendid Court and 
luxurious Manners of the Roman Governors, 
refident among them. — Chri/l, however, di- 
rectly appropriated to himjelf many of the mojl 
ftriking Mufions to the MeJJiah in the Old 
Teftament; and, by their own Confejfim, made 
himjelf equal with God. — The Influence and 
Operations of the Third P erf on in the Holy 
Trinity being more frequently and particularly 
i infifted on in the New Teftament, the Dif- 
cujjion on the Character of the Paraclete re- 
fumed, and the fceptical Argument that a mere 
Quality, or Principle, is meant by the to 
Ylvevfxa, Ayiov is confuted: Each HypoftaJis 9 
therefore, being proved feparately to pojjefs 

H all 



[ "4 1 

all the fublime VunBions that ftamp Divinity 
on the PcJeJTcr, each was truly God. 

THE light of revelation beamed not upon 
mankind with an inftantaneous efful- 
gence. The facred truth which dawned in 
thofe words, pronounced by a benignant God, 
after the fall ; the feed of the woman [hall bruife 
the head oftheferpent ; which was, afterwards, 
more clearly revealed in the promife to Abra- 
ham, that in his seed all the nations of the 
earth fould be Mefed which flione with 
highly-increafed luftre in the pidturefque and 
fervid eloquence of Ifaiah, and which broke 
forth with meridian fplendour in the rap- 
turous (trains of the later prophets, who ^im- 
mediately preceded the appearance of the 
Meffiah, was of too awful and too fublirae a 
nature to be at once unfolded, and too myfte- 
rious to be immediately or fully comprehended. 
The characters, however, of the Meffiah ; of 
him, whofe name was to be called, Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the 
everlasting King; were ftrongly marked, 
and the important functions he was to dis- 
charge were too accurately defined to be 
either miftaken or mifapplied. Thofe cha- 
racters were confirmed by the ftamp of tradi- 
tional 



tional authority 5 they were illuftrated in the 
allegorical way, common among the Jewifh 
do&ors, by a variety of expreffive fymbols and 
figures, which, however afterwards borrowed 
by the Pagans, to elucidate and to adorn lefs 
pure fyftems of theology, could not originally 
have entered into the conception of any one 
but a Hebrew, becaufe they arofe' from 
particular modes of interpreting their own 
writings. Some inftances of this kind have 
! been already adduced, and more will be exhi- 
1 bited hereafter. As our Saviour himfelf and 
his apoftles were Hebrews, and confequently 
muft have been acquainted with the gradual 
manner in which that revelation was made, as 
well as all the figurative allufions by which 
the future Meffiah was fhadowedout, either in 
. > the facred writings, or in their traditional code, 
it might be expe£ted that they would adopt 
both the fame progreffive method of unfolding 
celeftial truths, as well as endeavour to render 
themfelves more intelligible to their audience, 
by occafionally addreffing them in the fame 
allegorical manner in which the facred precepts 
of religion had been conftantly enforced. In 
fa£t, they did fo • and that in a far more ex- 
htenfive degree than is generally underftood. 
! I have before noticed the very judicious ob- 

H 2 fervation 



[ 1x6 ] 

fervation of Dr. Wotton, how much a dili- 
gent perufal of the Misna, and other rabbi- 
nical compilations, may aflift in discovering 
the true fenfe of our Lord's difcourfes and 
St. Paul's epiftles, in which thcfe compofitions 
are fo conftantly referred to. Indeed there are 
many paffages in both that are utterly un- 
intelligible without that kind of knowledge * 
and all, without the light reflefted from it, 
lofe a great portion of their force and beauty, 
I {hall prefently exemplify what is thus affirm- 
ed by a few out of a very great number of 
ftriking fa£ts, which I have neither room nor 
leifure to recite. One of the grand obje&ions, 
urged againft the eternal ' Divinity of the 
Logos, is that, if this doftrine formed a ne- 
ceffary part of a Chriftian's creed, fo important 
a truth would have been decifively revealed, 
and in exprefs terms, by our Saviour himfelf. 
In reality, both this folemn truth and that of 
a Trinity are throughout his difcourfes fuffi- 
ciently evident for the conviftion of any, but 
the voluntary fceptic. Any more luminous 
or extenfive difplay, than what we find in the 
New Teftament, of the myfterions arcana, to 
be completely unfolded in the vaft periods of 
eternity, and, in the gradual unfolding of 
which, a great portion of the happinefs pro- 

mifed 



[ "7 1 

mifed us in another life will probably confift, 
would have been contrary to the whole fcheme 
of Almighty Wifdom, which adapts its opera- 
tions to the expanding capacity of his crea- 
tures ; that Wifdom which diftributes benefits 
in proportion to our merits, and has deftined 
fuperior attainments to be the fole reward of 
fuperior virtue. Jefu's Chrift and his apoftles 
regulated their conduct by the rule eftablifhed 
in the eternal economy. The firft promul- 
gation of the Gofpel, let it be remembered, 
was to Jews, in Paleftine, not to Gentiles, 
at Rome. They trod in the fteps of the 
prophets that preceded them, and difcourfsd 
with as much conformity as poflible to the 
dogmas of the Sanhedrim, and the notions of 
the ancient fynagogue. I proceed to recapitu- 

If late the proofs of thefe refpeclive aflertions. 

An extended period had clapfed fince Ma- 
lachi had founded in Judah the prophetic 
trumpet. Impatient piety glowed with in. 
tenfe fervour, and expectation was on the 
wing to meet the promifed Mefiiah. At length, 
the long wnhed-for period of his advent ar- 
rived \ nor was the awful event, in which 
were involved the eternal interefts of the 

J human race, ufhered in amidft darknefs and 
Jilence : an angel, praipofely defcending from 

H % heaven* 



[ "8 \ 

heaven, announced the incarnation, not of 
another angel, (for that furely were un- 
neceffary,) but of the Son of the Higheft, of 
whpfe kingdom there Jhould be no end, and point- 
ed out the manner of his conception, by the 
overfhadowing of that Shfchinah, who, ac- 
cording to the Talmudic jews, had equally 
the key of the womb and of the grave. At the 
period of his birth, a bright chorus of angels 
welcomed that birth in expreffive hallelujahs ; 
and, guided by the refulgent conftellation that 
now firft illumined the Eaftern hemifphere, 
the Chaldean magi with reverence haftened to 
pay homage to that Meffias to whom, it is 
faid, the kings of TarftiJJj and of the ijles jhall 
bring pre ferity and the kings of Sheba and Seba 
Jhould offer gifts. Pfalm lxxii. iq. Arrayed 
in the venerable garb of the ancient prophets, 
and adhering to the fame auftere diet, which 
fhould have roufed the attention of the Jews, 
the meffenger John appeared, his anguft he- 
rald ; and a folemn voice was heard amidft 
the receiTes of the defert, Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord, make flraight in the defert an high- 
way for our God. He was initiated by the 
baptizing hand of that celeftial meffenger into 
the facred ofiice which he condefcended to 
aflame, and received the moft folemn and 

public 



[ «9 1 

public atteftation poffi-ble of his divine ema- 
nation from the eternal fountain, as well in 
the audible voice of Jehovah giving the ever- 
lafting benediction to his beloved Son, as in the 
Holy Spirit vifibly defending in the form of 
that aufpicious bird which brought to Noah 
the firft 'tidings of Almighty wrath appeafed. 
The jews, had not their eyes been totally blind- 
ed during the ceremony of this divine undion, 
might there have leen two notable texts rela- 
tive to the Logos in their national Scriptures 
ftrikingly fulfilled: O God, thy God bath 
anointed thee <with the oil of gladnejs above thy 
fellows. Pfalm xlv. 7. And that, in Ifaiahxi, 
2 : And the Spirit of the Lord fall reft upon 
him. It was then that the Baptift not only 
faw, but bore public record, that he was the 
Son of God, and on this occafion I cannot 
refrain from citing the words of Dr. Alhx : 
<c The three perfons in the Godhead did there 
fo confpicuoufly manifeft themfelves, that the 
ancients took thence occafion to tell the 
Arians, Go to the river for dan, and there you 
fall fee the Trinity."* Among the ac- 
knowledged appearances of the divine Logos, 
in the ancient Scripture, a very early and im- 
portant one ought to have been particularly 
H 4 fpecificd 

• Judgement of the Jewifh Church, p. 297. 



[ I*0 ] 

fpecified in a preceding page; becaufe, at his 
very entrance upon his mediatorial office, the 
Mefliah himfelf refers to that appearance as a 
proof of his divinity. It is that to the pa- 
triarch Jacob, on his journey towards Haran, 
when, in a prophetic dream, he beheld a ladder 
fet upon the earth* the top of which reached to 
heaven, and the angels of God ascending 
and descending on it 5 and, behold* the 
Lord Jlood above it* and /aid* I am Jehovah, 
the God of Abraham* thy father, and the God 
of Jfaac. Gen. xxviii. 12, 13. As the angels 
of God are in this place thus particularly men- 
tioned, even the effrontery of modern Ju- 
daifm has not dared to degrade the Jehovah, 
who thus appeared, to the rank of thofe 
beings ; and it is probable that Jacob faw the 
divine Being, as the Targum of Onkelos ex- 
plains it, in all the glory of the She- 
chinah; for, when he awoke, we are told, he 
was afraid* and faid* How dreadful is this place I 
this is none other but the house of God, and 
this is the gate of heaven ! Ibid. 27. The 
paffage, in which the incarnate Logos fo evi- 
dently alludes to this previous manifeftation 
of his glory under the ancient Mofaic difpen- 

fation, 

* " Et ecce, gloria Domini stab at fnper ea, et 
ait — " Targ r Qiik. apud Walton, torn i, p. izi* 



[ «I ] 

fation, is that recorded in John i. 51 ; in which, 
Jefus, after bringing to the remembrance of 
Nathanael a notable circumftance in his life, 
which, he was convinced, could only be known 
to his Maker and himfelf, compelled the guile- 
! lefs Ifraelite to exclaim, Rabbi, thou art 
the Son of God, thou art the King of 
Israel ! appellations appropriated by the San- 
hedrim to the Mejiah. To this Jefas returns 
the following anfwer : Becaufe I faid anto thee, 
I saw thee under the fig-tree, believefl 
thou? Thou Jhalt fee greater things than theft ! 
And he immediately and emphatically adds 5 
Verily, verily, / fay unto you,, hereafter you 
jhall fee heaven open, and the angels of 
God ascending and descending upon the 
Son of Man. 

When Chrift affumed to himfelf the title 
of Bridegroom of his church, according to that 
expreffion in Hofea ii. 19, where God, ad- 
dreffing Ifrael, fays, J will betroth thee 
unto me in righteoufnefs for ever, he well knew 
that the Meffiah was, in the writings of the 
fynagogue, confidered in that capacity, and 
feeks Ifrael as his bride. Expreffions confo- 
nant to this occur in various parts of the 
Canticles, as where it is faid, Let him kifs me 
with the kiffes of his mouth-, for, thy love is 

fweeter 



[ 122 ] 

fleeter than wive; and St. John, doubtlefs, 
alludes to this notion, where, fpeaking of 
Chrift, he fays, He that bath the bride is the 
bridegroom. When, again, Jefus affirms, 
upon entering the temple, My houfe Jhati be 
called a houfe of prayer, he was well acq uaint- 
ed with the opinion which fo univerfally 
prevailed among them, that the teinple was 
dedicated to God, and that Shechinah per- 
fonified by himfelf. The circurnftaiice which 
I fhall next proceed to point out is, in my 
humble opinion, fo manifeft a declaration of 
the eternity of the Logos, that, if properly 
confidered, it ought to remove every objection, 
and annihilate every doubt. When our Sa- 
viour affirmed that Abraham bad feen his day, 
and was glad, the Jews obje£ted to him, that 
he made himfelf greater than that venerable 
father of their nation, and that it was im- 
poffible for Abraham, who had been dead fo 
many hundred years, to have feen the day of 
a perfon who was net yet fifty years old. Je- 
fus, then, for the firft time, a (Turned the name 
that belonged to his more elevated nature 
that ineffable name of Eh Jeh, by which he 
had firft made himfelf known to their na- 
tion j and, as was cuftomary with him upon 
any more important occaaon, again replied 

with 



r m 3 

with this nervous and reiterated affeveration % 
Verily, verily, I fay unto you, before Abra- 
ham was, I AM. John via. 58. The Jews, 
however relu&ant to admit the fad, were 
perfectly acquainted with his meaning ; for, 
they immediately took up Jiones to cajl at him, 
as at a bold and impious blafphemer who ar- 
rogated to himfelf the immediate title of Je- 
hovah. Equally pertinent and forcible, on 
the point of his divinity, is the following 
paflage in Luke v. 20 ; where, to a man lick 
of the palfy, that Logos, who, in Jeremiah 
xxxi* 34, is reprefented as declaring, J will 
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their 
Jin no more, authoritatively fpeaks, Man, thy 
sins are forgiven thee. When the Pha- 
rifees again accufed him of downright blaf- 
phemy, in arrogating to himfelf that fublime 
property of forgiving fins, which they fa 
truly deemed to belong to God alone, the great 
phyfician, whom Malachi declared to be the 
fun of righteoufnefs about to rife with healing in 
his wings, to prove that he was God, in a 
iimilar tone of authority faid to the fick of 
the palfy, Arife, take up thy couch, and go to 
thine houfe. Thefe repeated proofs of his di- 
vinity had their due efFe£t ; for, at the fight 
pf the fick object fuddenly riling in the full 

vigour 



[ "4 ] 

vigour of health, they were all amazed^ and 
glorified God, and were filled with fear, fay- j 
ing, we have feen ftrange things to-day! In 
another place, he thus pathetically exclaims : 
O Jerusalem ! Jerufalem ! how often would I 
have gathered thy children together , even as a hen 
gather eth her chickens under her wings, and ye 
would not! Matth. xxiii. 37. Taken in any 
fenfe, this addrefs is animated and beautiful ; 1 
but it derives great additional animation and 
beauty from the confideration that the whole 
nation of the Jews is reprefented in the rab- 
binical writings as under the expanded wings 
of the guardian Shechinah. Again Jefus 
calls himfelf the bread of life^ and the 
manna that came down from heaven ; but both 
Philo and the Rabbi Menachem, cited by Al- j 
lix, exprefsly affert, that the Shechinah's be- 
ing the celestial manna, and that HE 
fhould come down from heaven as the man- 
na did, was an eftablifhed dodhine among 
the ancient Jews. 

The ftate of the Jews at this particular pe- 
riod, and the ftrange perverfion that had pre- 
vioufly taken place in their theological princi- 
ples, deferve confideration. 

Corrupted by their increafing intercourfe 
with that world, amidft whofe crowded fcenes 

the 



[ "J ] 

the feleft people of God were, by a funda- 
mental article of their religion, forbidden to 
mingle ; dazzled by the fplendour difplayed in 
the luxurious courts and military eftablifti- 
ments of the Roman viceroys refident among 
them ; the higher orders of the Jews were gra- 
dually feduced from their juft and primitive 
conceptions of the Meffiah, and, in time, 
expe&ed not fo much a fpiritual and eternal, 
as a temporal and earth-born, fovereign and 
deliverer. Thefe perverted fentiments, how- 
ever, had by no means engroffed, in fo exten- 
five a degree, either the great body of the 
people, or that diftinguifhed clafs of Hebrews 
among whom flouriftied the flender remains 
of their ancient learning, and the uncorrupt- 
ed principles of the patriarchal devotion. It 
was neceffary that thefe miftaken fentiments 
fhouldbe early, vigoroufly, and effe&ually, 
combated. It was, therefore, the invariable 
aim, both of our Saviour himfelf during his life, 
and, afterwards, of his apoftles in all their 
difcourfes to the Jews, to rectify thofe no- 
tions, which the chief men among them in- 
dulged and propagated, relative to the Meffi- 
ah's appearance upon earth as a great tempo- 
ral prince. There cannot, indeed, be adduced 
a more unequivocal proof, that the great body 



[ *I26 ] 

of the Jewifh nation at that period understood 
thefe paffages in the Old Teftament exa&ly as 
by Chriftian interpreters they are explained 
above, than that they were thus publicly and 
patiently permitted to apply them to the Mef - 
fiah. For, as Dr. Allix in his preface has ob- 
ferved, although they knew, that, in their fa- 
cred books, only one God was acknowledged 
under the name of Jehovah, which denotes 
his effence, and therefore is incommunicable 
to any other, yet they alfo knew, that not only 
this very name is given to the Meffiah, but 
alfo that all the works, attributes, and cha- 
racters, peculiar to Jehovah, the God of If- 
rael, and the only true God, are, in various 
places, applied to him.* Or, as he has in 
another place of the fame preface remarked, 
they knew that God had taught them the 
unity of his effence* but in fuch a manner as 
to eftablifh, at the fame time, a diftinflion in 
his nature* which, guided by the notion he 
himfelf gives of it, we call Trinity of perfons ; 
and that, when he promifed that the Meffias 
to come was to be man, at the very fame time 
he exprefsly told the Jews, that he was withal 
to be God blessed for ever. It was not, it 
will be recoilefted, againft that mode of ap- 
plication 

* Allix's Preface to his Judgement, pp. z and 6. 



[ % ] 

plication to the Meffiah that the fenfe of the 
audience revolted, bat folely againft the af- 
ferted completion of thofe prophecies in the 
lowly Nazarene. Yet the defpifed Nazarene, 
even when the enraged multitude were going 
to ftone him for thofe expreffions of fuppofed 
blafphemy which made himfelf equal with God> 
undauntedly perfifted to appropriate to him- 
felf the prophecies ufually applied to the Mef- 
fiah; and, with an authoritative voice, in the 
face of impending death, commanded them to 
fearch the Scriptures ; for, they teflified of him* 
He applied to himfelf all the texts invariably 
confidered as pointing to that facred perfonage. 
He told them, that he had that power, which 
can alone belong to Deity, to lay down, 
and then to resume, life ; and that he was 
the Son of God, in that peculiar fenfe in 
which they themfelves underftood the word. 
Not to multiply texts, however, on a point 
that muft now appear fo clearly demonftrated, 
let us clofe this review 7 of the evidence in 
both the Old and New Teftament for the di- 
vine 

*_ John v. 39. There are, in this chapter, fuch folemn atten- 
tions of our Saviour's divinity, from his own lips, as, I think, 
muft ftagger the Socinian. What can be more decifive on the fub- 
jecl than the 21ft verfe : For y as Father raifelh up the dead 
(that peculiar privilege of Deity) and quickenetb than, e-ven fo the 
Son quichncth whom he will? 



[ "8 ] 

vine rank and attributes of the Logos with 
obferving in how remarkable a manner that 
moft ample and'moft exprefs teftimony of Je- . 
remiah, in which, fpeaking of the future 
Meffiah, he declares, This is the name whereby 
be Jhall be called ' - 9 Jehovah, our righteous- 
ness, (Jer. xxiii. 6,) that is to fay, he (hall be 
called by the incommunicable name of GOD, 
was afterwards fulfilled. Could it be more 
fo, tha n when the unbelieving Thomas, after 
our Lord had indulged him in the unreafon- 
able proofs he had demanded of his being 
in reality rifen again, pathetically exclaimed, 
My Lord and my God! John xx. 28. Is 
it poffible for any atteftation to be more deci- 
ded than what St. Paul offers to the Romans, 
when he fays, Of whom as concerning the flejh 
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed 
forever? Rom.ix. 5. Or that of St. Pe- 
ter, Through the righteoufnefs of our God and 
Saviour Jesus Christ? Or, finally, that 
of the beloved difciple St. John ; We are in 
him that is true, even in his Son J ejus Chrijl : 
this is the true God and eternal life? 
1 John, v. 20. 

Very pointed and exprefs evidence has been 
adduced, in the former part of this digreflion 
on the Chriftian Trinity, that there is alfo an- 
other 



[ m ] 

I other facred hypoftafis in the divine eflence, 
| whom the Jews call Rouach, or, as it is 
j more generally written, Ruah Hakkodesh. 
! More numerous and more apparently folid ob- 
jections are raifed againft the divinity and 
1 perfonaiity of this third hypoftafis than the 
preceding ; for, even thofe, who are willing 
| to admit the eternity afid co-equality of the 
! Son, very reluftantly allow the fame honour 
; to the Spirit. On examination, however, 
we fhall find, that his divine character and at- 
tributes are decifively marked both under the 
old and the new difpenfation, and that to the 
Ruah all the properties and offices of Deity 
are as exprefsly and diftin&ly affigned as to 
the Mimra himfelf. In addition to the deci- 
ded teftimony of his immediate perfonal a- 
gency and divinity, advanced from holy writ, 
in various preceding pages, relative to his pof- 
feffing, equally with the Autotheos and the 
Logos, thofe ftupendous attributes which un- 
equivocally ftamp Divinity on the pofleflbr, viz. 
the power to create, to confound languages, to 
receive prayer, and to forgive fins, I fhall, in 
this place, produce a few corroborative texts, 
which, I am of opinion, cannot fail of ma- 
king a very deep impreffion upon the mind 



[ m> ] 

of the reader who fhall attentively weigh 

I 

them. 

The Ruah Jehovah (for, the latter name 
is, in facred writ, repeatedly applied to the 
Holy Spirit) is exprefsly manifefted, as, in- 
deed, is each perfon in the bleffed Trinity, in 
the following folemn declaration of the Logos 
in Ifaiah : And now- the Lord God and his 
Spirit hath fent me; upon which words, the 
converted Jew, Xeres, cited before, who well 
knew what idioms exifted in the Hebrew lan- 
guage, obferves : <c The divine adion in this 
place is fending, and is attributed to Jeho- 
vah, and to his Spirit. Now, it cannot be 
fuppofed, as fome among you (Jews) do, that, 
by the Spirit, here is only meant a virtue y 
as juftice, mercy, goodnefs, and the like, are 
faid to be in God. For, where is ever any 
thing like this, of fending a prophet, recorded 
of mercy, or juftice, or any other divine at- 
tribute? Befides, could fome Divine Virtue 
be fuppofed to be implied by the Spirit, 
then that fpeech would be an empty tauto- 
logy; for, who, at any time, ever faid, He, 
and his Underftanding, perceives fuch a thing; 
God and his Omnipotence, or his Mercy, did 
fuch and fuch a thing ?"* I have literally 

tranfcribed 

* See the Addrefs to the Jews by John Xeres, p. 75* 

■ ., . -• : > - • 7 



t 13* ] 

tranfcribed this comment of a Hebrew upon 
his native Scriptures, becaufe, from his being 
fo well acquainted, as in the preface to the 
book he is certified, by the merchants atteft- 
ing his character, to have been, " with the 
l Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldee, tongues," this 
J learned Jew's critical fagacity would have 
j enabled him to diftinguifli between a mere 
I ; idiomatic phrafe (as expreffions of this na- 
j , ture, occurring in the Old Teftament, are 
! called by our antagonifts) and an affertion, 
fo folemnly corroborated as this is, of the 
immediate perfonal agency of the Holy- 
Spirit. 

When Balaam, contrary to the original 
fuggeftions of his bafe and venal mind, was 
compelled to predid the future glory of Is- 
rael, the Spirit of God is faid to have come 
upon him. Numb, xxiv, 2. Where the vul- 
gate Latin reads " irruit in fe," that is, mill- 
ed upon him in all the refiftlefs energy of the 

I Divinity. Concerning the fame powerful de- 
miurgic Spirit that brooded over the abyfs, 
the devout Job gratefully acknowledges ; The 

j Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath 
of the Almighty hath given me life. Job xxxiii. 
4. It is extremely remarkable, that the au- 

| thor of the Chaldee Targum on this pafTage 

I 2 has, 

1 * 



[ 1 

has, without the leaft authority from the ori- 
ginal, brought into his text the fecond as well 
as the third hypoftafis. His words are, " Spi- 
ritos Dei fecit me, et Verbdm Omnipoten- 
tis fuftentavit me."* 

From the apocryphal books, in the courfe 
of this furvey of the Trinity, I have not 
brought fo many proofs as I might have in- 
fifted upon ; becaufe, I thought more folid 
evidence would arife from citing the facred 
pages that are not apocryphal. In thofe 
books, however, the genuine fentiments of 
the ancient JewiOi church may be confidered 
as delineated with fidelity ; and the traditions, 
delivered down from their fathers, as accu- 
rately exhibited. Judith, in her Song of 
Thankfgiving to God, gives her additional 
teftimony to that of Job, and plainly reveals 
to us the Holy Spirit : O God, let all crea- 
tures ferve thee; for, thou Jpakejl, and they 
•were made; thou didft fend forth thy Spirit, 

AND IT CREATED THEM. Judith XVI. 14. 

In this text, furely, the third creative hy- 
poftafis is as exprefsly manifefted as the two 
former are in the following paffage of ano- 
ther of thefe apocryphal writers : I called upon 
the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that 

he 

* Targum atmd Waltoni Polyglot, tcm. iiL p. 66, 



I 



f *33 1 

he would not leave me in the days of my trouble. 
Ecclef. li. 10. There is a remarkable fimila- 
rity between this text and that cited before 
from Genefis, of the Lord raining from 
the Lord out of Heaven, as well as that other 

i from the Pfalmift, the Lord [aid uuto my 
Lord, fit thou on my right hand. Bat who, 
fublimeiy exclaims the wife ft of men and 
greatefr of kings that ever fat on the throne 

! of Judah, Who hath afcended up into Heaven, or 
defcended f Who hath gathered the winds into his 

1 grafp ? Who hath bound the waters in a gar- 
ment ? Who hath eftabliJJied all the ends of the 
earth? WHAT IS HIS NAME, OR WHAT 
IS HIS SON's NAME? Prov. xxx. 4. To 
this folemn interrogative of Solomon we 
may, with humble confidence, in the lan- 
guage of Paleftine, reply, that the former is 
the Jupreme En Saph, or infinite ; the lat- 
ter, the eternal Mimra : the fame who 
fpake, and the world was made. From va- 
rious parts of Scripture, which demonftrate 
his equal authority, we apply to this Son, 
alike with that Father, the incommu- 
nicable name of Jehovah. Indeed, the Fa- 
ther him/elf direftly announced the eternai 

! divinity of his Son, when, in Exod. xxiii, 

I 31, he declared of that mighty Angel of 

jpV ' ' ' J 3 thQ , 

I 

- 

1 



[ *34 ] 

the Covenant,* who led the children of If- 
rael out of Egypt, Behold, my name is 

in 

* In this place, alfo, the particular term, angel, (ayysXog) muft 
£>e underftood rather of the office than of the person who con- 
defcended to accept that ofEce. Rabbi Menahem, cited by Poole 
on this palTage, aflens, out of the old rabbinical writers, «« hunc 
angelum effe angelum Redemptor em." See Poole's Synopfis, 
torn. i. p. 438. Indeed, it is lufHciently evident by the following 
Hebraifm ; my name, that is, my essence, is in him. The ! 
Syriac verfion renders the paffage, " ncmen meum eft super 
ipsumj" the Samaritan, " nomen meum eft in medio ejus. 1> 
See Walton's Polyglot, tom.i. p. 327. I have had frequent oe- 
canon, during this digreffion, to remark, how greatly a knowledge 
of ancient Jewifti manners and opinions tends to elucidate the fa- 
cred volumes. Nothing can more conduce to that end than the 
consideration of the profound reverence which the ancient Jews 
poiTelTed for the Tetragrammaton, By that awful name, ac- 
cording to their rabbies, the moll awful prodigies could be 
performed ; and it was affirmed to be guarded by lions in the in- 
moft recefTes of the temple. See Bafnage's Hiftory of the Jews, 
p. 194. 

"The name ofGod (fays Calmet) includes all things; he who 
pronounces it {hakes heaven and earth, and infpires the very an- 
gels with aftonimment and terror. There is a fovereign authority 
in this name: it governs the world by its power. The other names 
and furnames of the Deity are ranged about it, like officers and 
foidiers about their fovereigns and generals; from this king- 
name they receive their orders, and obey." So far Calmet, ci- 
ting thofe rabbies, Hiftoric. Dicl. voLi. p. 750. Concerning the 
mylterious manner in which the cabaliftic doflors combined the 
letters that compoie this ineffable name, and the myfteries which 
they difcovered in it, fomething will hereafter occur in the text. 
For the prefent, it will be ufeful to conficler what that moft famous 
gnd venerable rabbi, Judah the Koly, who compiled the celebrated 

book 



[ m ] 

in him I an ancient Hebrew fynonim for God. 
Wherefore it is faid, Beware of him, and obey 
his voice % provoke him not, for, he will not 
pardon your tranfgrejfiom for, MY name is 

I 4 in 

book called the Misna, has faid relative to a paffage in Pfalm 
xci. which the whole race of Hebrew, as well as Chriftian, com- 
mentators have united to confider as allulive to the Meifiah. In the 
14th verfe of that Pfalm it is faid, / will Jet him on high, becaufe he 
hath known my name. Upon which Rabbi Jadah makes the fol- 
lowing comment. The original Hebrew is in Kircher, and I give 
it in that father's Latinity, and with his fubfequent remark. 
" Quare Ifrael in hoc mundo orat, et non exauditur ? Propterea 
nimirum, quoniam nefciunt nomen Hemmimphoras. Futurum 
autem eft, m Deus fanclus et benediclus doceat eos, juxta illud ; 
turn fciet populus meus nomen meum, tunc vere orabunt, et ex- 
audientur." Kircher fubjoins; " Scilicet tempore Mess ije, veri 
et unigemci Filii Dei, qui difcipulos fuos, in iifque ecclefiam, hoc 
facrofanftum Triadis myfteriuni perfe&e docuit, juxta illud: 
Pater , manifeftavi women tuum hominibur, quos dedifti mihi" 
CEdipus Egyptiacus, torn i. p. 246, in Cabala Hebrsorum. He, 
who, under the ancient difpenfation, blafphemed the name of 
God, was ftoned to death; and he, who fwore falfely, portabat 
iniquitatem fuam, which is generally fuppofed to mean punimment 
not to be remitted. That folemn fpot in the temple, which the 
Lord chofe to place his name there, or, as is more flrongly exprefled 
in Ezra vi. 12, in which Jehovah caused his name to 
dwell, was confidered as a fpot peculiarly auguil and inviolably 
facred. Our Lord himlelf, indeed, in various parts of the New 
Teftament, feems to allude to the miraculous Tetragr a mm a- 
ton : but in a more particular manner, in the Gofpel of St. 
Matthew, he affirms, that, in the day of Judgement, many 
mail come and fay, Lord, Lord, have we not prophefied in t h y 
name, and in thy name cajl out devils, and in thy na&3 
dene many wonderful thing* ? Matth. vu. 22. 



[ 13* 1 

in him ; that is, he is Jehovah : and a mofl: 
indifputable proof of his being Jehovah was 
the circumftance here attributed to him, that 
he had the power to pardon the tranfgreffions 
of mankind, But to proceed in our examina- 
tion of the texts in a more particular manner 
allufive to, and illufcrative of, the functions 
of the Holy Spirit. 

Had not the name and operations of the 
Holy Ghoft been well known among the Jews 
at the time of the Meiiiah's appearance, the 
herald John would have been utterly unintel- 
ligible when he informed the Jews that the 
fame Mefliah fiould baptize them with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire. Matth. hi. 2. The an- 
gel who appeared to Mary, and predicted that 
the Holy Ghost /Jjould come upon her, and the 
Fewer of the Higheji (the Avwpeis of Philo) 
Jhould overfloadow her, would have only filled 
the agitated mind of the holy Virgin with af- 
tonifhment and terror. The infpired Peter in 
thefe words addrefles the falfe Ananias : Why 
hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy 
Ghost ? Thou haft not lied unto men, but unto 
God ; (Ads v, 4;) which affords too deci- 
five fupport to this argument to need any 
comment. That the Holy Spirit is not, in 
the New, any more than in the Old, Testa- 
ment, 



[ i37 3 

ment, reprefented in the light of a mere qua- 
lity, or principle, as our antagonifts infift, 
is clearly demonftrated by a variety of texts, 
of which a few only are enumerated below. 
The Holy Ghost said, feparate me Barnabas 
and Saul, for the work whereunto I have 
called them. Afts xiii. 2. So they, be- 
ing sent forth by the Holy Ghost. Ibid* 
4. Nor in the words which mans wifdom teach* 
eth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. 
1 Cor. ii. 13. Now, the Spirit speaketh 
expressly, that, in the latter times, fome fhall 
depart from the faith. 1 Tim. iv. 1. It will 
be allowed, that a naked quality, or principle, 
cannot be faid tofpeak, to call for, to fend forth, 
or to teach ; and, therefore, that Spirit muft 
in all thbfe places be underftood perfonally. 
Again, we read of " divers miracles and gifts 
of the Holy Ghofir A naked quality, or prin- 
ciple, cannot work miracles j for, that alone 
belongs to God: and here we find an addi- 
tional proof of his divinity. Neither can it 
impart gifts; yet, in this place, the Holy 
Spirit is diftinguifhed as the beftower of 
gifts, which evidently implies perfonality. 
But if, as the Socinians ftate the matter, he 
were only the Gift and not the Donor, in 
what fenfe could he be faid to impart gifts ? 

It 



[ i3« ] 

It would be the groffeft of all human ab- 

fbrdities to fay that a gift could beftow iu 

M 

As it was by the immediate and peculiar 1 
influence of the Holy Spirit that the prophets 
were infpired, he is, in general, by the au- 
thors of the Targums, denominated the Spi- 
rit of prophecy. The moft refpeftable of ! 
thofe paraphafts (Onkelos) tranfiates the fe~ 
cond verfe of Genefis, in his ufual way, when 
fpeaking of his operations, < s Spiritus a con- 
fpedu Dei;"* but the seventy have fcrupu- 
loufly adhered to the original term, and have 
rendered it mevpcx e^,f the Spirit of God. 
The circumftance of his being thus expreffiy 
mentioned by Mofes, at the very commence- 
ment of his hiftory, is an evident proof how 
very early the Hebrews were acquainted with 
the diftinclion of perfons in the divine na- 
ture 5 for, as Mr. Whitaker has judicioufly 
remarked, " this third fharer of that nature 
muft have been as familiarly known to the 
Jews of Mofes's days as the Godhead itfelf, 
or that legiflator would have conveyed no 
ideas to them when he wrote the fecond verfe 

of 

* See the Targum of Onkelos in Walton's Polyglot, torn, i, 

p. 2. 

f Vide Grabe's Septaagint, torn. i. p. i. 



[ 139 1 

of Genefis."* How early, likewife, the Jews 
knew the Spirit as a perfonal co-operative 
agent in the government of the world, and in 
the difpenfations of a fupreme all-ruling Pro- 
vidence, is evident from Genefis vi. 3, where 
it is faid, My Spirit (hall not always ftrtve 
with man : and it was the fame Spirit who 
infpired the feventy elders ; for, it came to pafs 9 
that, when the Spirit refud upon them, they 
prophefied, and did not ceafe. Numb. xi. 25. 
And the Spirit of the Lord (in the origi- 
nal, Ruah Jehovah) fell upon me, fays Eze- 
kiel, and said unto me-, Speak, thus fait b the 
Lord. Ezek. xi. 5. Indeed, fo well acquaint- 
ed were the Chaldee paraphrafts with this 
Holy Spirit v and his operations, that they have 
placed him where he ought not to be 5 for, 
whereas it is faid, Gen. xlv. 27, The Spirit of 
Jacob, their father, revived-, which fimply 
means, as Bochart has well tranflated the paf- 
fage, priftino vigori reftitutus eft the Tar- 
gum of Onkelos reads, Et requievit Spiritus 
Sanctus fuper Jacob, patrem fuum. That 
of Jonathan renders it, Requievit Spiritus 
propheticus, a mode of expreffion which is 
explained by the preceding remark. In the 
inftance, alfo, of Balaam, cited before, On- 
kelos 

* See Mr. Whitaker's Origin of Arianifrn., p. 241. 



[ ho ] 

kelos has it, Quievit fuper eurn Spiritus pro- 
pheticus a facie Domini. It is equally An- 
gular, that, in Pfalm civ. 13, where, in the 
original Hebrew, the word Spirit is alone ex- 
preffed, the Chaldee Targum on the paffage 
reads, 55 Sanctus Spiritus tuu$." The 
fame addition of " Holy 5 ' occurs again in 
Ifaiah xlii. 1, where the words, I will put 
my Spirit upon him, are tranflated, in the Tar- 
gum of Jonathan, I will put my Holy Ghost 
upon him. Indeed, the verfe of Ifaiah, laft ci- 
ted, is highly remarkable on another ac- 
count j for, though Chriftians univerfally re- 
gard the paffage as a direct prophecy of Chrift, 
yet the Jews ought to be abaflied when they 
deny the allufion to that facred perfonage, and 
yet can read, in their own Targum, the word 
Messiah, which does not occur in the origi- 
nal text, fpontaneoufly inferted by Jonathan, 
their favourite paraphraft.* 

Thefe alterations were undoubtedly intended 
more diftinctly to mark cut that facred perfon, 
who, we have obferved from high authority, 
is commonly known among the Jews by the 
title of Ruah Hakkodefh. It cannot be de- 
nied, however, that the Jews have, in a vari- 
ety of instances which are pointed out by 

Rittangel, 

* Confult Walton's Polyglot, torn. iii. p. no, 



[ m i 

Rittangel, who publifhed the famous Sephlr 
Jetzirah, or Apocryphal Book of Abraham, as 
well as by Bifnop Kidder who cites Elias Levita 
to prove it, applied the title of Shschinah 
likewife to the Holy Spirit; whence fome con- 
fufion has arifen in authors who have difcuffed 
this fubjecl. His more general defignation 
among them, however, was by the title fpecv 
fied above ; and by that title it has been fuffi- 
ciently proved that he was known to the an- 
cient Jews.* 

If we now turn to the page of Philo Ju- 
dseus, we (hall find that writer not lefs exprefs 
in afferting his perfonality and defcribing his 
operations. He calls him, in one place, Bern 
UveZ^f the Divine Spirit; and, in another, 
ufes the very words of the Septuagint, Ilveup* 
6^4 the Spirit of God: now, he is th^EvBsov 
nJ w *,§ the Spirit full of Deity 5 now, in the 
phrafeology of the Targumifts, he is the Buog 
Upo^rrjg, or the Spirit of phrophecy.|| And, in 
one of the paffages juft cited, he remarkably 

corroborates 

* See Kidder's Demonftration of the Mefliah, part iii. p. 243, 
edit. oft. Lond. 1700. 

t Vide Philonis Judsi Opera, p. 169. G. de Plantatione 

Noae. 

X Ibid, de Plantatione Noas, p. 172, A. 
§ Ibid, de Specialibus Legibas, p. 592, F. 
(J Ibid, de Vita Mofis, p. 527. B. 



[ ^42 ] 

corroborates the teftimony, exhibited before, 
of his being the demiurgic Spirit, by avert- 
ing, " that man was made by the Spirit after 
the image of God," o yotg Kara ukovx 

But it may ftill be objected that, however 
ftrong this evidence may be for a plurality of 
perfons, it is fcarcely fufficient of itfelf to 
eftablifh a direft Trinity in the divine nature; 
that a plurality implies an indefinite number ; 
and, when that do&rine is allowed of, it may 
be extended to whatever number of perfons 
the wild inventive fancy of different com- 
mentators may conjecture to fubfift in that ef- 
fence. 

It will undoubtedly be granted, that, where 
Jehovah fpeaks of Jehovah, there more than 
one perfon is of neceffity to be underftood. 
From fuch pafTages, an indifputable//^///y 
is proved. Now, if a third perfon, clearly 
diftinguifhed from the two preceding, be called 
by the fame majeftic name, it follows, that 
there are three diftinct perfons in the God- 
head. But we have feen, that the term Jeho- 
vah is, in various texts, applied to the Holy 
Spirit : therefore, he, likewife, is very God ; 

and 

* Vide Philonis Judaei Opera, p. 172, A. de Plantations 
Norc. 



r m i 

and thus a Trinity of hypostases, or fub- 
fiftences, or by whatever other foftened name 
human piety, fearful to offend, may choofe 
to exprefs thefe three feparate divine agents* 
is demcnftrated to fubfift in the unity of 
the Divine Efience. To denote the plurality^ 
thus fubfi fling, no better term than Elohim, 
a plural noun, could be fele&ed ; nor, as the 
literal meaning of Jehovah is the Being who 
necejfarily exijls> could any more proper title 
be made ufe of than that, to point out the ef- 
fential unity. The compound appellative, je- 
hovah-Rlohim, implies both ; and it is for 
that reafon fo univerfally adopted in the Old 
Teftament. 

But is there, in the ancient Scriptures, any 
more dire£t and particular {kciQ.'-on of the 
dodlrine of a Trinity ? Can any pafiages be 
adduced from them that expreffly limit the 
number to three perfons ? for, after all, the 
Jews themfelves, in their contefts with Chrif- 
tians on theological points, are equally as de- 
cided againft the dofrrine of a Trinity as 
they are unanimous in afierting the Unity 
of the divine efience. I muft again repeat, 
that, for the reafons above-affigned, this 
myfterious truth is not fo clearly difplayed in 
the Old Teftament as prefumptuous man ima- 
gines 



[ *44 ] 

gines he has a right to demand. When God 
propofes to his creatures any do&rine as an 
object of faith, it is not cuftomary with him 
to deftroy the poflibility of the exertions of 
that faith by a full and immediate manifefta- 
tion of it, which would convert belief into 
abfolute conviBion ; and, with refpeft to the 
obftinate oppofition of the Jews on this point, 
I requeft permiflion to obferve, that the grand 
error of that infatuated people (inexcufabie 
in them becaufe it is a voluntary error) is the 
following. Their rancour againft Chriftia- 
nity will not allow them to examine, with 
coolnefs and impartiality, its genuine doc- 
trines ; and, though nothing can be more 
clear and exprefs than our beft and mod es- 
teemed writers are on the Unity of the God- 
head, they pertinacioufly infill upon it that 
Chriftians would deftroy that Unity, and are 
the direft fupporters of Tritheifm. In fad, 
this do&rine, being originally a myftery, and 
the obfcurity which ever rauft involve the 
great myfterious truths of religion, and ever 
conceal them from the improper and imper- 
tinent inveftigation of finite beings, being 
made deeper by the additional fliade thrown 
around it by the cabalifts, was never among 
the Jews the fubjeft of univerfal belief ; it 

was 



1 • t r 45 ] 

was wifely veiled by Providence from their 
view; for, that nation were fo extremely grofs 
in their conceptions, and, in general, fo 
little acquainted with abflraft fpeculations, 
that their progrefs, from the belief of a Tri- 
nity in the divine eflence to that of a plurality 
of gods, would have been equally rapid and 
irrefiftible. Thole, therefore, who thus art- 
fully concealed it from vulgar infpe<5tion, 
when they found it applied by Chriftians to 
prove the divinity and attributes of the true 
Mejjiab, had it in their power, either by fup- 
preffion or mifreprefentation, in a great mea- 
fure to prevent the full effeft of inquiry, 
i Much evidence of this kind has, doubtlefs, been 
fupprefTed, and much more would have been 
kept back, but for the indefatigable exertions 
of many celebrated Chriftian divines in mi- 
nutely inveftigating the Hebrew rites, Ian- 
guage, hiftory, and traditions. 

It remains, however, finally to be proved, 
that the Jewifh rabbies themfelves had as clear 
and diftinft notions of a true Trinity as, it 
has been demonftrated, they had of a plu- 
rality of perfons in the Unity of the divine 
Wence 5 that the evidence for a Trinity in 
j the divine effence, in the ancient Jewifli fcrip- 
| tures, is as decifive as a nation, eternally re- 

K lapfing 



[ 146 ] 

lap ling into polytheifm, could bear the revela- 
tion of it; and that this do&rine was clearly 
difplayed by various lively and fignificant 
fymbols peculiar to the Hebrews. They ex- 
prefsly affix the number of three to that 
effence, denominating the three perfons the 
three Sephiroth,* a word fignifying splen- 
dor ; and diftinguiih, as Chriftians do, their 
perfonal charafters and aclions. I have ob- 
ferved, that, in the feptuagint, the Greek word 
tfforcoTroi is occafionally ufed to fignify the 
perfons in the Godhead in as dircft a fenfe as 
they apply that term to the perfons of Adam 
and Eve.f With Jehovah, the peculiar and 
appropriate name of God, they join that of 
Cochma, orwifdom, and that of Binah, of 
the underftanding, according to thofe paffages 
cited before from the book of Wifdom, ch. ix. 
4, Give me Wisdom that Jitteth by thy throne 
and by Proverbs iii. 19, By wisdom hath 
be founded the earth by understanding hath 
be ejlabhjhed the heavens. We have feen that 
the Tews thought thofe two (acred perfonages 

fo 

* I mall hereafter treat more at large of the Sephiroth, and 
the fymbol by which they were repreiented. 

f Thus, alfo, according to our author, fpeaks of them the 
Rabbi Bechai, a famous commentator on the Pentateuch, in fol i$, 
cel. 2. 



f H7 ] 

fo effentially neceffary and radically conftituent 
parts of the divine effence, that they figura- 
tively denominated them the TWO HANDS OF 

; God. This Angular expreffion is particularly 
ufed both in Jonathan and the Jerufalem 

j Targum on Exodus xv. 17.* They fay that 
God hath created the world by the fecond 
Sephirah, or Wifdom, in the fame manner 
as the soul aBs by her body.-J- Of the third 

I Sephirah, or Binah, there was a moft ancient 
and memorable notion entertained by the 
Hebrew doftors j for, as they called the Logos 
the Creator, or Father 5 fo they called the 
Binah the Mother of the world by the appel- 
lative Imma. This fad: is evinced by Allix in 
feveral quotations from ancient Jewifh para- 
phrafts; but, in particular, from the book 
K 2 Zohar 

* The deviation of thefe commentators from the text, to ex- 
prefs this favourite rabbinical notion, is very remarkable. In the 
original, according to the accurate tranflation of Pagninus, the 
paffage Hands, " Sancluarium tuum, Domine, quod firmaverunt 
manus Tua;" or, as in the Engliih Bibles, The fancluary, 
O Lord, which thy hands have eftablijhed. But Jonathan 
writes, " Domum fandluarii tui, Domine, amb/e manus tuje 
fundaverunt and, in the Jerusalem Targum, it is exprefled, 
" Domo fanc"tuarii, Domine, quam ambje manus tuze funda- 
verunt." Gonfult thefe Targums in Walton's Polyglot, torn. W; 
I p. 131. 

f Zohar apud Allix, p, i6z> 



\ 



[ *# ] 

Zohar and the Rabbi Menachem.* It is 
poffible, that, from this ancient Hebrew fimi- 
litude, the pagans might derive their firft 
idea of the Dea Multimamma, the many- 
breafted parent of all things, who fupports, 
with her nutritious and abundant milk, the 
whole creation. It is likewife poffible that all 
thofe ideas, fo common in the myftic writers 
of the pagan world, of a certain generative 
fecundity appertaining to the divine nature, 
or, in other words, that the Deity was both 
male and female, (ideas reprefented in the 
temples of India by a very uiual, but a very 
degrading, fymbol, too grofs to be here parti- 
cularized,) originated in a mifconception of 
this Hebrew notion. The fubjecl belongs 
rather to philofophy than theology, and will 
be confidered, with many others equally cu- 
rious, under the article of Hindoo Literature: 
for the prefent I (hall content myfelf with ob- 
ferving to the reader, that there is a paflage, in 
Ifaiah lxvi. 9, which forcibly illuftrates and 
corroborates the preceding conjecture. I give 
it in the Vulgate Latin, as I find it in Walton's 
Polyglot: Nwnquid ego, qui alias parere 
jack, ipfe non pariam? dicit Dominus. Si 
e go 9 qui generationem ceteris tribuo, steri- 

LIS 

* Rabbi Menachem In Pentateuchum, fol. 1x4, col. 2. 



t *49 ] 

lis ero? ait Dominus Deus turn. In the more 
correct mteilineary verfion of Pagninus, the 
'Hebrew verb, tranflated pariam i is rendered 
44 fra;gam matricem"* which feems to allude 
to what John Xeres, a learned and upright 
Jew, converted to ChrifUanity in the lair cen- 
tury by the force of the arguments adduced in 
its favour by Dr. Allix, obferves, in obviating 
the objections raifed againft the miraculous 
conception, that the Talmudifts aflert that 
the Almighty alone has poffeffion of the three 
keys ; by which they mean, the key of the womb, 
the key of the rain, and the key of the grave.-}* 
Although the appellative of Jehovah be more 
particularly applied to the .firft Sephirah, or 
mod ancient splendor ; yet it is, in many 
parts of their writings, equally applied to the 
fecond and third Sephirah. They particularly 
fpecify the Chriftian doctrine of the emanation 
of the fecond or third perfon in the Trinity ; 
and they even go fo far in the book Zohar, as 

K 3 to 

* See Walton's Polyglot en Ifaiah, torn. iii. p. 174. 

f See an Addrefs to the jews, referred to before, by John 
Xeres, pp. 83 and 84. As this profelyte's character is atteftedby 
a number of merchants, who knew him in his native country of 
Saphia, on the coalt of Barbary, and as the book is undoubtedly 
authentic, it cannot be too warmly recommended to the member* 
both of the Chriftian and Jewim community. 



[ !i° ] 

to propofe the manner in which Eve was 
taken from Adam as an image of the manner 
of the emanation of the Wifdom from the en 
SAPH, or infinite fource.* As, in Egypt, the 
triangle was, in fucceding ages, confidered as 
a juft fymbol of the " numen triplex 5" fo if is 
remarkable, that, in the fame venerable book 
Zohar, the three branches of the Hebrew letter 
Schin are afferted to be a proper emblem of 
the three perfons that compofe the divine 
eflence.-f- They fometimes call theft three 
Sephiroth, spirits; at other times, the three 
Avmpus, or powers ; and, at other times, the 
three lights.J Thus we fee that language 
was ranfacked for words, and nature explored 
for objects, to difplay and to illuftrate thofe 
conceptions which they are by modern Jews 

and 

* RabH Menachem in Zphar, fol. 105, col, 3.; and Allix. 
p. 169. 

f Allix, p. 170, citing the Zohar, fol. 54, col. 2. 

J cf Rabbi H. Hagaon, who lived feven hundred years ago, 
faid, there are three lights in God ; the ancient light, 
or Kadmon ; the pure light; and the purified light; 
and that thefe three make but one Go p." Allix's Judgement, 
p. 170. The fame Rabbi Hagaon affirmed, sf Hi tres, qui 
funt unum, inter fe proportionem habent, ut unum, uniens, 
et unitum." He had, in a preceding page, obferved, " Sunt 
jrincipium, et mepium, et finis; et haec funt tjnu? 
functus ; et eft Dominus univerfi." Ibid, 



[ 15* 1 

and modern fceptics audacioufly denied ever 
to have entertained upon the fubjeft. 

If the myftery of the Trinity cannot be 
found in the two firft verfes of the firft chap- 
ter of Genefis, it is in vain to look for any 
clearer difplay of it in any other page of the 
Old Teftament. The Ancient of Days of 
Daniel, the creative Logos of St. John, and 
the incumbent Spirit of the paraphrafts* 
fhine forth in that page with diftinguifhed 
luftre; with rays intimately blended, but not 
confounded, If the reluctant Chriftian will 
not difcover it there, the ancient Hebrew, 
when, as yet, there exifted no caufe for dif- 
fembling, could ; fince not only the author of 
the Jerufalem Targum tranflates the word 
ierefcbit by hacacamma, sapientia; but the rab- 
binical do&ors, to exprefs their notion of the 
threefold power that made the world, in 
their cabaliftic way, in addition to that tranf- 
mutation of words, afferted, that Bara de- 
notes goodness, and Helohim power. Thus 
the world was created by the union of Al- 
mighty wisdom, goodness, and power. 
Others found a Trinity in the three Hebrew 
letters which form the word iTQ, created ; 
for K, or Aleph, being the initial letter of the 
Hebrew alphabet, is a known fymbol of the 
K 4 Father 3 



[ ] 

Father; a, cr Beth, imports the Son; and 1 
fignifies Puah, the Spirit. The reader, who 
has the guriofity to fee very confiderable and 
exprefs tcitimony of this nature, demonftrating 
that the ancient rabbies, in their interpreta- 
tion of Scripture, were not in reality un- 
influenced by fimiiar ideas to thofe which 
Chriftians entertain concerning thefe verfes, 
may find, in Kircher,* abundance of proofs, 
and particularly in that father's extracts from 
the author Rabbi Hakadofch, from whom the 
above quotation is taken, a rabbi fo highly 
celebrated for his piety as to have the title of 
Holy conferred on him by his nation. When I 
mention the word Trinity, a word generally 
denied to be known to the Jews, I do it not 
pnly on the authority of Calmet, who afferts, 
from Raymond Martin and Galatine, that the 
Chaldee paraphrafts and ancient rabbies make 
exprefs mention of the Trinity in the term 
tW*m* Shalilhith, or Trinitas ; and of the 
three hypostases that compofe it in the 
words irRfcJ r\&W, Tres in Uno j and in 
T\vhw2. *im, Ur.us in Tri6us:f but I (hall 
add out of Kircher an entire fentence of the 

fame 

* See (Edipus iEgyptiacus, torn. i. p. 542. 



f Confult Calmet's Dictionary on the word Trinity, 



E 153 ] 

fame Hakadofch, in which all the perfons in 
the Trinity are exprefsly mentioned. It is 
exceedingly remarkable that, in this very 
Hebrew fentence, are comprifed the myfterious 
forty-two letters, which, according to the ca- 
i balifts, form another of the names of God. 

Ptf/^r Dm, Filius Deus, Spiritus Sandlus 
I JDeus, T nnus in Unit ate et Unas in Trinitate. 

The following paflage, which I (hall give 
1 from facred writ, unabridged, has, with great 
1 propriety, been confidered by moft commen- 
tators as dire&ly allufive to the three perfons 
in the Holy Trinity : And the Lord appeared 
unto him, (Abraham,) in the plains of Mamre, 
ae he fat in the tent-door in the heat of the day. 
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo I 
three men flood by him i and, when be faw 
them, he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and 
bowed himfelf toward the ground, and faid, My 
LoRD!j- Dr. Bedford ha*s remarked on this 
paflage, that the vowels are added, to make it 
in the plural number, but that Abraham fpeaks 
afterwards to them in the Angular : If I have 

found 

* R. Hakadofch, apud Kircher, CEdip. JEgy^U torn, iv p. 246. 
f Q$n.xviii. 1, 2, f. 



[ i54 ] 

found favour in thy fight ; and that he prays 
to them as to the one Jehovah.* There is 
alfo an obfervation of Philo on this text, which 
Very much corroborates the fen fe affixed to it 
by Chriftian divines. He fays the whole paffage 
contains a latent myftical meaning, not to be 
communicated to every one ; and that, accord- 
ing to this myftical fenfe, he was denoted 
a m % the great Jehovah, with his two Awxusi;, 
of which one is called Qeog and the other 

It would be facrificing the caufe for which 
I contend, were I not, among thefe evidences 
of a Trinity, in the Old Teftament, to enu- 
merate the text which the Jews every morning 
and evening conftantiy recite, and call the 
Shema : Hear, O Jfrael, the Lord, our God, 
is one Lord. Deut. vi. 4, They, indeed, urge 
this as an unanwerable argument againft the 
Trinity, but with what jufrice will be fully 
confidered hereafter. 

The following form, in which the high 
prieft was commanded folemnly to blefs the 
afTembled people, has like wife been juftly con- 
fidered as indicative of the three perfons in 

the 

* Sermons at Lady Moyer's Le&ures, p. 49. 
f Philo Jud.de Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini, p. 108, D. 



[ '55 ] 

, the Godhead, as well as in fome degree de- 
j fcrrptive of the feveral characters of the great 
J Father and Preserver of all things, of the 
I radiant and benevolent Logos, and of that 
Spirit who is emphatically called the Com- 
i forter and Giver of peace : 'The Lord blefi thee 
j and keep thee ! The Lord make his face jhine 
upon thee, and he gracious unto thee ! The Lord 
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee 
| peace I* This triple repetition of the awful 
! name of Jehovah, incommunicable to any 
1 being under the rank of Deity, and the triple 
I benedi6tion accompanying it, pronounced, ac- 
cording to Rabbi Menachem, cited both by 
Poole and Patrick on this paffage, each time in 
a dijferent accent, is the more remarkable, be- 
caufe, at the period of pronouncing it, the 
high prieft, in the elevation of his hands, 
conftantly u jfic digitos compofuit, ut Triada 
exprimeret? difpofed his fingers in fuch a 
manner as to exprefs a Trinity.-)- But of 
this mode of fymbolizing the triune Deity, I 
fliall hereafter have fomething additional, and 
not lefs curious, to report from Kircher. To 
the peculiarly-ftrong collateral evidence thus 

adduced, 

I - <): l m - . . ■ • 

; * Numb. vi. 24, 25, 26. 

f Vijde Rambam, et Salomon Bbk Jar rh 1, apud Kircher. 



[ ] 

adduced, I (hall add a few other paflages from 
facred writ, which to me appear con clu five on 
the point under confideration. 

In the following mod fublime language, 
the great infpired prophet Ifaiah defcribes a 
vi-fion which he was permitted to have of the 
eternal glory : I faw the Lord fitting upon a 
throne, high and lifted up ; and his train filled the 
temple. Above it ftocd the Seraphim, each with \ 
fix wings ; and one cried to another, and /aid ; 
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; 
the whole earth is full of his glory ! That this 
repetition was not merely the effect of pro- 
found veneration in the Seraphim, but that, 
by it, a Trinity was really adored, appears 
equally evident from what almoft immediately 
follows, which, if I miftake not, proves ftill | 
more — fomething greatly refembling that 
very Trinity in Unity, for which we have 
all along contended. Alfo 1 heard the voice of 
the Lord, faying, Whom Jhall I fend, and who 
will go for us ?* In the Revelations, it is faid 
that the four facred animals, which compofe 
the Cherubim that fupport the everlafting 
throne, refi not day and nighty faying, Holy, 

HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, which 

was, and is, and is to come 

It 



* Ifaiah vi. 3, 8. 



f Rev.iv, 8. 



[ *57 1 

It is not, however, aione in folemn a£h of 
benediction and thanksgiving that the 
number three is repeated; a (acred Triad is, 
in the following paiTage, the immediate object 
of prayer, the prayer of the pious Daniel*! 
and we may reft a flu red, that, in making it, 
the prophet uCzd m -vain repetition: O Lord» 
hear 5 O Lord, forgive-, OLord, hearken, and 
do ; defer not for thine own fake, O my God ! 
Dan. ix. 19. In this paflage the Trinity 
appears to be as plainly intimated, by the in- 
vocation of the three perfons who compofe it 
m the former part of the fentence, as the 
Unity is by the addrefs to the collective 
Godhead in the latter portion of the fentence. 
A fimilar paflage and a kindred mode of 
phrafeoiogy occur in Ifaiah: The Lord is our 
judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord 
is our king: he will five us. Ifaiah xxxiii. 
22. In the very fame evangelical prophet, 
the Immortal Being, who, at verfe 12 of 
chap, xlviii. had denominated himfeif p R I M U 3 

et NOVISSIMUS, THE FIRST AND THE LAST; 

and who, confequently, was the Redeemer of 
Ifrael; in the 16th verfe of that chapter, de- 
clares, And now the Lord God and his Spirit 
hath fent me. In this verfe, either each perfon 
in the Trinity is exprefsly patticularifed, or 

we 



[ i5.8 J 

we muft allow the idiom to be very Angular 
indeed ; for, it is an idiom unprecedented be* 
fore in any known language of the earth. The 
paffages cited above are fufficient to prove 
that this doctrine, if not revealed, for a reafon 
given before, in fo many exprefs terms, is at 
leaft very forcibly intimated in the Old Tefta- 
m'ent ; and, on an impartial examination, we 
fhall find it plainly inculcated, where no fuch 
reafon for (hading it under a myfterious veil 
fubfifted, viz. in the New Tejlament. 

The three perfons in the Holy Trinity are 
there clearly brought before our view in the 
following promife of the Mefliah to his in- 
quiring difciples : The Comforter, which is 
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father wiM 
fend in my name, he Jhall teach you all things. 
John xiv. 26. It was here neceffary to ex- 
plain to them who was the promifed Com- 
forter, but not who was the Holy Ghoft ; nor 
yet that the Holy Ghoft was a perfon, and not 
a quality or attribute 5 for, it was he who was 
to teach them all things. The fame auguft 
perfonage, in another place, declares, When 
the Comforter is come> whom I will fend unto 
you from the Father, even the Spirit of 
Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he 
Jhall teflify of me. John xv. 26. 

A 



[ m i 

A celebrated Greek fcholar having urged 
the poffifale fpurioufnefs of the text aliufive to 
the three heavenly witnejfes, I fhall not here 
cite it, beta life the laying any ft re is upon 
evidence in the lead degree difputable would 
be injudicious* In fact, this doctrine needs 
not the fupport of any dubious text what- 
loever, when there are fo many others corro- 
borative of it in the New Teitament, full as 
pointed as that omitted, and of authority that 
cannot be difputed. The bell: evidence, it will 
be ftill allowed, that can pofiibly be brought 
upon this fubject, is that of our bleffed Sa- 
viour himfelf, and his exprefs teftihiony has 
been already produced; but his language is 
even ftill more decided in the following paffage, 
where he folemnly commands his difciples to 
go and teach all nations ; baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Matt, xxvjii. 19. There is a 
very remarkable paffage, not I think lufficiently 
attended to, in St. Paul to the Corinthians, in 
which not only the perfons, but the operations 
more peculiarly appropriate to each of thofe 
perfons, feem to be diftinctly fpecified : Now 
there are diver fit ies of gifts, but the same spi- 
rit ; and there are diverfities of administra- 
tions, kit the same Lord : and there are di- 
verfities 



[ *6o ] 

verfities of operations ; but it is the same 
God, who worketb all in all. i Cor, xii. It is 
unneceffary to fwell this increafing volume 
with an enumeration of all the various texts 
upon a point fo obvioufly manifeft in the New 
Teftament; and, therefore* I fhall clofe this 
part of the evidence by an infertion of another 
paffage of the fame infpired apoftle in this 
epiftle, which, indeed, may well ferve in the ! 
place of a hofl: of them. The grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and 
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you 
all I 2 Corinth, xiii. 14. 



CHAPTER 



[ *6i 3 



CHAPTER m 

The remarkable Teflimony of Philo JttDJEus.— 
The Sentiments of the ancient Jewifh Rabbi* 
as given in the two famous Books, the Sephir 
Jetzirah and the Zohar. — Decifions of 
ether celebrated Rabbi on the SubjeSi. — The 
hieroglyphic Symbols by which the Jews an* 
ctently defignated the Myjlery of the Trinity. — 
The firjl Symbol the Sephiroth, or Three 
Great Splendors. — Stridlures on the ancient 
Cabala. — The ancient fymbolical Method 
of writing the Name Jehovah, viz. by? 
three Jods, enclofed in a Circle. — In the 
ancient myftical Charafter* fuppofed* like the 
DsviNAGARi Character of lndia> to have 
been revealed by Angels, the ]od* the firjl 
initial Letter of that Name* accompanied with 
a Triangle. — ^ three Perjons in the 
Divine Essence fometimes compared* by the 
Rabbles* to the three collateral Branches of the 
Hebrew Letter Schin. — The Jymbolical Man* 
ner in which the High Priefl gave bis folemrt 
Benediftion to the People* reprefented by 4* 
Engraving. — The mojl important and ex- 

L prtfivr 



[ i6 2 ] 

prejjive Symbol, the Hebrew Cherubim. — 
Its Origin and Purport extenfively invefli gated, 
and Philo Judaus and Jofepbus referred to 
for an Explanation of the National Sentiments 
on that SubjeB.— fhe Refult of the whole 
preceding Difquifition is, that the DoBrine 
of the Trinity was certainly, though ob~ 
fcurely, known to the ancient Jews. 

AFTER bringing before the view of the 
reader the preceding folid body of evi- 
dence, which, l'ummed up together, amounts 
to little lefs than demonftration, efpecially 
when it fhall be confidered from what high 
authority no inconfiderable portion of that 
evidence is derived, I might ftand excufed from 
citing theteftimony of Philo, were not that 
teftimony too pertinent and too important to 
be entirely omitted. To the objeaion, that 
Philo's mind was deeply infeded with the 
prevailing philofophy of the times, or, in other 
words, that he Platonifed, it will be fufficient 
for the prefent to reply, that, if Philo Pla- 
tonifed, Plato, long before the age of Philo, 
Judaifed, as will be amply evinced in a future 
page. His opinion of a certain plurality exift- 
ing in the Deity has been noticed before ; as 
well in that remarkable palfage preferved to 

us 



I 163 3 

tis by Eufebius, (for, the original does not ap- 
pear in any edition of PhiJo's works now ex~ 
tant,) relative to the kvrepbv : Bs6^ or fub- 
ordinate God, as in the quotations recently 
adduced to eftablifh the divinity of the third 
Sephirah. I £haii now likewife add, that Philo 
is as expfefs as words can enable him to be on 
the limitation of the number of thofe perfons 
to THREE, as is evident in the following 
paffages, well known, and frequently referred 
to, for the illuftration of this iubje£t I have 
not room to infert them at length, (though 
the purport of them all is much elucidated by 
the fentences which immediately precede and 
follow,) but-fcall faithfully give the fubftance. 
In the firft of the remarkable pafTages alluded 
to, which occurs in the trad on the Cherubim, 
fpeakingof the eternal Ens, or £ he afferts' 
that, lc in the one TRtjrE God there are two 
fupreme and primary Au^s^, or powers, 
whom he denominates Ay^orrjrcc Egww, 
that is, goodness and authority and that 
there is a third and mediatorial power 
between the two former, who is the Aoyos."* 
In the fecond, which is that in his differtation 
j concerning the fccrifices of Abel and Cain,f 

L 2 Phil© 

• Vide Philonis Jud*i Differt de Cherubim, p. 86, F.G, 
f Differt. de Sacrifice Abelis et Caini, p. 108. B. 



t *6 4 ] 

Philo is ftili more explanatory ; for, fpeaking 
of the fame o $v appearing to Abraham, he 
acquaints us, that " He came attended by his 
two moil high and puiffant powers, princi- 
pality and GOODNESS; uq cav o perse T^trjotg 
QeatTctTMt MtpyageTQ Ti of «ti^ij tJ/u%? > HIMSELF 

in the middle of thofe powers; and, though 
one, exhibiting to the difcerning foul the ap- 
pearance of three." In a third paflage he 
is ftill more decifive; for, Ke fays, n«rij ? 
fm &m o ps?m " the Father of all is in 
the middle;" and, as if to prevent any poffibi- 
lity of thofe powers being miftaken for mere 
attributes, he affigns to each of them adive 
perfonal properties, and denominates one the 
power creator, and the other the power 
regal. He then adds, the power creator 
is Bioc, God; the regal power is called 

Kugios, Lord.* 

I am now to demonftrate that the ancient 
Jewifli rabbies abfolutely, although not pub- 
licly, profeffed the doftrine of a Trinity, by a 
more particular examination of their various 
allegorical allufions on the fubjed, and the 
fymbols by which they typified it. Thofe 
fymbols, fo far as objeSs in the animated 
world were concerned, muft neceffarily be very 

few 



• Ciflert. de Abraliamo, p. 287, F. 



[ i6 5 ] 

few in number ; fince, to form the image or 
fimilirudeof a living creature, divine or hu- 
man, they confidered in fome degree as an in- 
fra 61 ion of the fecond commandment Their 
figures of the cherubim, therefore, made by 
the command of the Deity himfclf, are the 
only emblems of that kind allufive to the plu- 
rality which, it will prefently appear, they did 
believe to exift in the Godhead. But, in the 
moral and intelleftual world, to what an ex- 
tent the Jews, as well as all the other Orientals, 
carried their fymbolical allufions, when the 
fymbol did not tend to promote idolatry, is 
evident from a multitude of allegories and 
comparifons to be found in the rabbinical and 
talmudical books. The reader may form fome 
judgement both of their pronenefs to fym« 
bolize, and their mode of fymbolizing, from 
the following very curious paffage in the 
JVhscHNA* R.Akiba afks, " Why do they 
tie a fcarlet firing upon the head of the fcape- 
goat I The anfwer returned is, " Becaufe it 
is laid, though your fins be as fcarlet, thy {hall 
be as white as /now'" Ifaiah i. |8. Indeed, we 
need not defcend fo low down as to the period 
when the Mischna was written, fince we find 

L 3 this 

* Vide Mischna, lib. Shabbath, torn. ii. cap. 9, p. 36, edi- 
tor* SurenhufiQ., j^^dam, ^99. 



C 166 3 

this ftyle of writing prevailing fo early as the 
days of Solomon* whofe book of Proverbs is 
a remarkable proof of the predominancy of 
this fymbolical mode of enforcing truth. The 
famous book Zohar, and the Sephir Jetzirah, 
are crowded with fimilies and hyperboles in the 
Oriental way ; and the pages of Philo are fo 
gaudily arrayed in this kind of decoration as 
very often to obfcure, rather than to elucidate, 
his fubjecT:. Of the two former books, fince, 
through the medium of Dr. Allix, I have had 
fuch frequent occafion to refer to them, and 
rauft fo often cite them in the fucceeding 
pages, the reader may poffibly not be difpleafed 
with a fhort account of each from Mrf Bafnage, 
the faithful hiftorian of the latter Jews. 

The myfteries of the cabala were, ac- 
cording to the Jews, originally taught by the 
Almighty himfeif to Adam in the garden of 
Paradife. In them, they alfert, are wrapt up 
the profoundeft truths of religion, which, to 
be fully comprehended by finite beings, are 
obliged to be revealed through the medium of 
allegory and fimilitude; in the fame manner 
as angels can only render themfelves vifible 
upon earth, and palpable to the fenfes of men, 
by afluming a fubtle body of refined matter. 
All the patriarchs of the ancient world had 



t ««7 1 

their feparate angels to inftru£t them in thefe 
myfterious arcana; and Moles himfelf was 
initiated into them by the illuftrious fpirit, 
Metatron. This cahaliftic knowledge, or 
knowledge traditionally received^ (for, that is 
the import of the original word Kabbal,) 
was, during a long revolution of ages, tranf- 
mitted verbally down to all the great charac- 
ters celebrated in Jewifh antiquity ; among 
whom, both David and Solomon were deeply 
converfant in its moft hidden myfteries. No- 
body, however, had ventured to commit any 
thing of this kind to paper, before Simeon 
Jochaxdes, a famous rabbi and martyr of the 
fecond century, by divine affiftance, as the 
Jews affirm, compofed the Zohar. I have 
not room to inlert, from .M. Bafnage, any 
more particular account of the contents of 
this famous book, than that it abounds with 
myftical emblems, and a fpecies of profound 
fpeculative divinity, unfathomable, for the 
moft part, by thofe who are unacquainted 
with the peculiar cuftoms, manners, and ca- 
baliftical theology, of the Hebrews,* A- 
midft, however, a vaft mafs of matter, and a 
confuted jargon of ideas, to be expected from 
a competition which combines the notions of 

L 4 fo 

• See Bafnage's Hiftory of the Jews, p, 185. 



[ m 3 

fo many various people and of fucli different 
periods, much folid information is to he 
gleaned ; and, though both the age and cre« 
dit of the book have been attempted to be 
thaken by fome Chriftians of unitarian prin- 
ciples, yet, as Dr. Allix obferves, its authen- 
ticity was never doubted by the Jews them- 
felves. It is a treafure of the rnoft ancient 
rabbinical opinions in theology; and,, of it£ 
fidelity in detailing thofe opinions, the feme 
author has advanced this remarkable proof, 
that the very fame notions which prevail 
in the Zohar are to be fqun4 in the he- 
ginning of tl>e Rabbqth, which books the 
Jews affert to be nwe ancient than even 
the Talmud.* Thus, were the Zohar an- 
nihilated, fufficient evidence would not be 
wanting to eftabliih the fac]:s for which we 
contend. 

The Sephir Jetziraij, qr Book of the 
Creatipn, is the compofition next in cabaliftic 
fame to the Zohar \ and though, without any 
foundation, a (bribed to the Patriarch Abra- 
ham, yet it undoubtedly contains ftrong in«? 
ternal evidence of very remote antiquity. 
Rabbi Akiba, one of the mqft renowned for 
learning among all the Jewi(|i do&prs, v(\iq 

fiourifhed 

• AUix's Judgement pf^he ancient J ewiihfhurch^ p. 177, 



[ i6 9 ] 

flourifhed in the beginning of the fecond 
century, is fuppofed to have been the real' 
author. Abraham Poftellus, cited in a for- 
mer page, firft prefented this famous, book 
to the Chriftian world, with a Latin tranf- 
lation and a commentary, printed at Paris 
in 1552. Rittangelius, a converted jew„ 
publiflied another Latin vei lion of it, at Am- 
fterriam, 1642, with large explanatory notes, 
both by himfclf and other learned men of 
that period. The rage and hatred of Akiba 
againft the Chriftians were fo intenfe, that 
he is aflertcd by Father Pczron* to have al- 
tered the Hebrew text to anfwer a particular 
objection urged by them againft the Jews. 
If, therefore, any arguments in favour of the 
Trinity fhould be difcovered in the Sephir 
Jetzirah, they cannot fail of having addi- 
tional efFed upon the mind of the reader, 
when coming from fo hoftile a quarter. But 
there are fuch arguments in that book, and 
Rittangel has principally founded upon them 
a moft elaborate defence of the Trinity. The. 
reader will not be furpriied at this apparent 

inconfiftency 

• See the paflage extracted from this father, in the article Aki- 
fea, in the General Di&ionary; which article confirms the particu- 
lars here mentioned relative t6 that famoiis rabbi, it was written 
by Sai.e, who pqblifhed the Kokajj. 



inconfiftency in Akiba, when I inform him, 
that, though this furious zealot could act thus 
treacheroufly and malignantly again ft the ad- 
herents of Jefus Chrift, yet there was a Mef 
Jiah who appeared in his own time, L e. about 
the year 136 after Chrift, in whom he be- 
lieved the ancient prophecies to be fulfilled. 
This was that famous impoftor, named Bar- 
Cochebas, whofe rapid fuccefs and fangui- 
tiary devaluations through all Paieftine and 
Syria filled Rome itfelf with alarm and afto- 
iiifhment. In this barbarian, fo well calcu- 
lated by his cruelty to be the Meffiah, accord- 
ing to the perverted conceptions of the Jews, 
Akiba declared that prophecy of Balaam, a 
ftar Jhall rife out of Jacob> was accoaiplifhed* ! 
Hence the impoftor took his title of Bar- 
Cochebas, or fori of the ftar ; and Akiba not 
only publicly anointed him King of the 
Jews, and placed an imperial diadem upon 
his head 5 but followed him to the field at 
the head of four-and-twenty thoufand of his 
difciples, and acted in the capacity of mafter 
of his horfe. To crufh this dangerous infur- 
re&ion, which happened in the reign of the 
Emperor Adrian, Julius Severus, prefect of 
Britain, one of the greateft commanders ef 
the age, was recalled, and difpatched from 

Rome 1 



Rome 5 who re-took Jerufalem, burnt that 
metropolis to the ground, and fowed the ru- 
ins with fait. A deftinv, more terrible than 
even that to which the mad enthufiafm of 
j, Akiba had been the occafion of dooming fo 
many thoufand Chriftians, now awaited the 
patron of the pretended Meffiah; for, Adrian 
! ordered his fleflh to be torn off with iron 
combs, and the remains of his lacerated body 
to be afterwards confumcd by a flow fire* 
| Bar-rCochebas himfelf perifhed in the at- 
tack upon Bether, a ftrong city not far 
from Jerufalem, whither he had retired with 
an innumerable multitude of his followers \ 
and the Jewifh Hiftory, fufficiently bloody 
as it is ir* every page, records no faft more 
horrible than the promifcuous and undiftin- 
guifhed (laughter of thofe Jews.* 

Before I can proceed to the confideration 
of certain fymbols peculiar to the Hebrews, 
from which it is evident their forefathers 
had, if not the moft perfect, yet very ftrong* 
conceptions of fuch a plurality of perfons 
exifting in the divine eflence, as Chriftians 

denominate 

» Confult, for what relates to the rabbinical accounts, -Bafnage*.* 
'Hiftory of the Jews, p. 518, and the various authors cited by that 
hiftorian ; and, for what concerns the Romans, Taciti Annal. lib. 
iv. p. 126, edit. Variorum, 1673. 



[ m ] 

denominate a Trinity, it is neceflary that the 
laft and mod formidable argument, which 
has been urged by modern Jidaifm to over- 
throw this grand tenet of the Chriftian 
church, (hould be attentively examined. In 
the firft book, which is intituled Beracoth, 
or bkjjingi, of that fpnous code of Hebraic 
traditional laws, the Mischna,* it is enjoined, 
as an indifpenfable duty, to every Jew, that, 
twice at leaft in each day, that is, at the 
time of rifing in the morning, or, rather, at 
the rifing of the fun, and at the period of reti- 
ring to reft, or funfet, he ftiould folemnly re- 
cite what is there called the Shema, which 
confifts of thefe words : Hear, O Jfrael! the 
Lord, our God, is one Lord. This cuftom, 
which is as ancient as the days of our Sa- 
viour, if not as that remote period when the 
law was given from Sinai, they have founded 
upon the following paffage in Deuteronomy: 
And thefe words, which I command thee this day, 
floall be in thine heart j and thou fhalt teach them 
diligtntly unto thy children, and Jhalt talk of them 
when thou fittejl in thy houfe, and when thou 
walkejl by the way, and when thou liest down* 
and when thou risest up. Deut. vi, 7. Their 

daily 

• See Muchnaj TUie Beracoth, torn. i. p. I, editore Suren- 
hufiOj 1698. 



[f m ] 

daily and undeviating cuftom of reciting the 
text preceding, in confcquencc of thefe words, 
is, as Bifhop Pauick, on the paftige, ob- 
ferves, " to take the precept in a very dilate 
fenfe." The anfwer, however, of our Lord 
to the inquifitive lawyer, as it plainly alludes 
to this precept, fo it apparently juftifies the 
confequent ufage. His queftion was, U%k6 
was the fir/1 and great commandment of the law? 
To which Jefus anfwers, in the words of the 
Shema: Hear, O Israel ! the Lord, our 
God, is one Lord. Mark xii. 29. From 
this anfwer of our Saviour, it has been fup- 
pofed, by fome learned commentators, that 
he not only adopted the cuftom himfelf, but 
farther complied with the attendant precept 
in the following verfe, and alfo wore the phy- 
lactery. This prayer is called the Shema, 
becaufe Shema is the initial word of the 
Hebrew fentence fo repeated, and fignifies 

Hear. , , , ., 

The Jews, I have obferved, urge the dany 

recitation of this text, fo exprefs upon the 
Unity of God, as an unanfwerable argument 
againft the doctrine of the Chriftian Trinity : 
but, while they do this, they have acknow- 
ledged that it is fomewhat extraordinary and 
perplexing, that the name of God ihould be 

thrice 



f m 3 

thrice repeated ; * and, as to the Christian 
themfelves, againft whom it is urged as an 
argument fo irrefragable, /%>are almoft una- 
nimous, that, in this very fentence, there is 
a plain indication of a Trinity. If the read- 
er will turn to the original in the Hebrew Bi- 
ble, he will there find, in the firft and iaft 
words of this text, two letters of an uncom- 
mon magnitude, viz, the y, Ain, and the f 
Daleth j of which a fimilar inftance does not 
occur m the whole volume of the ancient 
Scriptures. The remarkable diftindion of 
thefe letters, the Jews themfelves allow, was 
intended to denote a deep and latent myftery 
in the words. But fince, in enforcing the 
Unity of God, a doarine fo plainly and ex- 
preffly inculcated in this and various other 
paflages, no myftery could be intended, their 
opponents, with great juftice, apply it to 
mean the myftery of the Trinity in Unity. 
" They infift, that it alludes to the manner in 
which God is one j that the Unity of the 
divine Eflence is an Unity that has nothing in 

common 

• See Bifhop Patrick on the pa%e, who makes this remark- 
and ^mediately adds: « The Jews confefs that here are meant 
three Mi doth, or properties; which they fometimes call three 

FACES, Or EMANATIONS, Or S A N CTIFI C ATI O N s. Or NUME- 
RATIONS ; though they will not call them three persons." Torn, 
V. p. IOO, 4tO, I70O. 



I '75 3 

common with that of other beings which fall 
under number ; and that, as the Jews, in 
their book of Prayers, exprefs it, God is nmis y 
mn unicm."* The Hebrew text, literally 
tranflated, runs thus: Hear, O Ifrael! Jeho- 
vah, our God, Jehovah, one: and Dr* 
Bedford, a very excellent Hebrew fcholar, ob- 
serves, that this mode of rendering the paf- 
fage perfectly agrees not only with the He- 
brew text, but with the mode of accenting 
ufed by the ancient Jews ; c< for, the accent 
pefick, between the two laft words, being a 
diiUnguifhing accent, requires fome paufeor 
ftop."f 

As a farther illuftration of this text, I rtiall 
now, according to a prior promife, pre- 
fent the reader with a pafTage which the 
authors of the Univerfal Hiftory have ex- 
traded from a produftion which I have not 
been fo fortunate as to procure : " Rabbi 
Simeon Ben Jochai, in his Zohar, a book 
by the Jews acknowledged to have been writ- 
ten before the Talmud, if not before Chrift, 
quotes the expofition of this text by Rabbi 
Jbba to this purport $ that the firft of thefe 

facred 

♦ Allix's Judgement, pp. 121 , 268 ; in the latter of which pages 
the original Hebrew is quoted, 
f Sermons- at Lady Moyer ? s Le&uies, p.53, oft. 1741. 



f »7* ] 

facred appellatives of Jehovah, which is 'the 
incommunicable name of God, means the 
Father ; by Elohim is meant the Son, who 
is the fountain of all knowledge; and by the 
fecond Jehovah is meant the Holy Ghost, 
proceeding from them, and he is called a- 
chad, one } becaufe God is one. Ibba adds, 
that this myftery was not to be revealed till 
the coming of the Meffiah. The author of 
the Zohar goes on, and applies the word hol\% 
which is thrice repeated in the vifion of I- 
faiah, to the three persons in the Deitv. 
whom he elfewhere calls three suns, or 

LIGHTS; THREE SOVEREIGNS, WITHOUT BE- 
GINNING and without end !"* Although 
it by no means appears, that this daily and 
punctual recitation of the Shema is abfo- 
lutely commanded the Jews in holy writ : yet 
it will readily be acknowledged, that the wor- 
fhip of one God was not only enforced by the 
firfl precept of the decalogue, but by the 
whole weight of the legiflative authority of 
Mofes, and by all the addreffes to the Deity 
of the prophets who fucceeded him. The 
reafon of the Unity being fo . ex prellly infilled 
upon is evident. 

Early 

• See the Ancient Univerfal Hiflory, vol. uU p, 1 2, firft oft, 
edition. 



[ *77 1 

Early and univerfally as the ancient pa- 
gan world was immerfed in the grofs dark- 
nefs of polytheifm, the unity of God was 
thus inceffantly inculcated upon the chofen 
people of Jehovah, to preferve them un- 
fpotted from the idolatrous pollutions of 
their Afiatic neighbours. Jehovah, there- 
fore, is called the one God in oppofition to 
the multifarious deities, the innumerable 
idols of Aflyria and Egypt, not in oppofition 
to, or in degradation of, thofe two facred 
perfonages, who, in various places of holy 
writ, are peculiarly diftinguifhed by the 
fame auguft title of Deity, and whofe claims 
to divinity are therefore eftablifhed upon that 
lafting bafis, Jehovah is denominated the 
true God in contra-diftinction to the falfe 
Baalim and the bafe Cabari, and not in 
difparagement or his co-equal and co-eflential 
participators of the eternal throne: he is 
called the living God in derifion of the 
inanimate deities which were fabricated of 
wood and marble, of gold, filver, and mean- 
er, metals ; deities who had eyes, yet faw 
not \ ears, and beard not ; mouths, and tafted 
not. 

Jehovah, then, indicates the unity of the 
eflence; Elohim, as has been repeatedly 

M obferved, 



[ 178 1 

obferved, points out that, in this unity, there 
is a plurality exifting, in a manner of which 
we can at prefent have no clear conception, 
no more than we have of other parts of the 
myfterious economy of the invifible world. 
In regard to the obftinate infidelity of the 
Jews, who perfift in conlidering the latter 
word as Angular, there ftill remains one un- 
anfwerable argument againft them, mentioned 
by M. Bafhage ; for, when hard prefled on 
this point, their anceftors conftantly anfwer- 
ed, that the plurality implied in it relates to 
the attributes of God, his goodnefs, his wif- 
dom, and his power. Thus, alfo, when they 
are prefled in refpect to the phrafe, let us | 
make, they obviate every idea of its being 
only a term expreflive merely of the eminent j 
dignity of the fpeaker, when they refer us 
for an explanation of it to his Beth din 
shel maala, or hcufe of counsel They like- 
wife affirm, that Mofes, to whom they are 
unanimous the Spirit of God dictated, even 
to the very words which he wrote, on a fud- ' 
den withdrew his hand when he was about to j 
write the words, Let us make man after our { 
own image ; reprefenting to . the Deity, that [ 
his Unity would be injured by fo polytheifti- ; 
cal an expreffion, and that it would be the 

means 



IP ' 

[ m 3 

means of eftablifhing, upon his authority, 
the pernicious doctrine of two Principles: 
but the Deity again and again aflured him, 
that he muft write as he had di&ated, without 
I perplexing himfelf with the confequences 
that might arife to thofe who were refolved to 
err.* 

The compound figures of the Cherubim, 
j which are defcribed in Ezekiel as attendant 
I upon the eternal Shechinah, have been con- 
i fidered, by authors of high repute* not only 
as indicative of a plurality in the Godhead, 
but as ftrikingly emblematical of the peculiar 
. attributes of the three auguft perfonages who 
compofe it. As an extended confideration of 
this ftupendous fymbol will lead to an eluci- 
dation of many obfcure points in the general 
theology of Afia, and will gradually lead us 
back to the fubjed: more immediately before 
us, the theological rites of Eindoftan, I fhall 
eafily obtain the pardon of my readers for 
going hereafter pretty much at large into a 
.fnbjetf: at once fo curious and fo profound. 
For the prefent, let us attend to that very ce- 
lebrated fymbol of Deity, its emanations and 
I attributes, called by the cabalifts the Sephi- 

! ROTH. 

M 2 To 

* Bafnage's Hiftory of the Jews, p. 287. 



\ iib ] 

To enter with any minutenefs into the , 
myfteries of the Sephiroth, in which are con- 
tained the profoundeft arcana of their art, 
would be a tafk equally tedious and unprofit-/ '! 
able. I (hall principally confine myfelf to 
the confutation of what the mod refpcft- j 
able of their rabbies have written concerning 
thofe three fuperior Sephiroth which have been | 
generally efteemed by Chriftian divines, who j 
have made the Jewifli antiquities their ftudy, 
as allufive to the Trinity. The plural term 
Sephiroth may be underftood in a twofold 
acceptation : in its proper and primary fenfe 
it fignifies enumerations j but, by the ca- 
balifts, it is more generally ufed in the fenfe 
of splendors, from a Hebrew root fignifying 
to fiiine with the purity and brightnefs of the 
sapphire-stone, as the word is rendered in 
Exodus xxiv. 10. Underftood in this latter 
fenfe, the expreffion is eminently illuftrative 
of the meaning of the cabalifts, fince the Se- 
phiroth are reprefented as iffuing from the fu- 
preme En Saph, or infinite fource, in the 1 
fame manner as light iffues from the sun. 
The whole number of the Sephiroth is ten; 
and they are reprefented in the writings of 
the cabaliftic dodtors by various fymbolsj 
fometimes by the figure of a tree with ex- 

tended 



[ m 3 

tended branches ; and, at other times, by ten 
different circles included one within the other 
and gradually ieflening to the centre. The 
former fymbol required too large a plate for 
the fize of an o&avo volume, bat there is an- 
nexed an engraving of the latter from M. 
Bafnage. The tree of the Sephiroth is a 
very curious fymbol, and very much refem- 
bles, fays Caimet, what, in the fchools, they 
call Porphyry's tree, to fliew the different 
categories of ens, or Being- Of this tree 
the Rabbi Schabte, in the book Jetzirah, 
writes as follows : " Arbori funt radices, et 
de radice confurgit germen, et de germine 
prodeunt rami, et funt tres gradus, radix, 

GERMEN, RAMI ; et tOtllQl llOC eft ARBOR 

una : tantum haec eft differentia inter illas, 
abfconditum et manifeftum ; quia radix, qua? 
eft abfcondita, patefacit influentiam fuam in 
germine, et unit fe germini; germen vero 
manifeftat influentiam foam in ramis, et unit 
fe ipfis ramis qui pullulant ex ipfo, et in fum- 
ma cmnes adhserent, et uniunt fe ipfi radici, 
quod, nifi inflaentia radicis effet germen, rami 
omnes exficcarentur : ita ut earn ob caufam 
hxc arbor vocetur una."* The fubftance of 
which paffage is, that, as the tree is compofed 

M 3 of 

* Sephir Jetzirah, apud CEdip. ./Egypt, torn. ii. p> 297' 



[ i82 ] 

of the root, the trunk, and the branches, 
and thefe are infeparable ; fo is the Supreme 
Being, who may be denominated the root, 
infeparable from the other Sephiroth, who 
may be confidered as the branches, and as re- 
ceiving all their virtue and nourifliment from 
that root, 

M. Bafnage, indeed, who has entered very 
extenfively into the fufejeS of the Sephiroth, 
has adopted on this fubjeft the fentiments of 
the modern Jews whofe hiftory he writes, and 
is of opinion, that all the ten Sephiroths are 
alike to be confidered as the attributes of God; 
and blames Chriftians for taking advantage of 
the rapturous expreffions which the Jews 
make ufe of on that fubject, to make them 
fpeak of the doctrine of a Trinity. To ob- 
viate the ill effects which may arife from the 
authority of that hiftorian, it is neeeffary to 
demonftrate to the reader, that, whatever 
may be the fentiments of the modern Jews, 
their anceftors made a very confiderable dis- 
tinction in regard to the three fuperior Sephi- 
roths whom they invariably regarded as per- 
sonalities ; whereas the feven inferior were 
alone confidered as attributes. The writer, 
laft cited from the Sephir Jetzirah, is de- 
cifive upon this point y for, almoft immediately 

after 



after he adds : <( Corona summa, quae eft 
myfterium centri, ipfa eft radix abfconditaj 
et tres mentes superiores funt germen, 
qux uniunt fefe in centre, quod eft radix 
earumj septem verb numerationes, qua? 
funt rami, uniunt fe germini, quod refert 
mentes ; et omnes fe uniunt in centro, quod 
eft radix in myfterio nominis radicalis et effen- 
tialis : qus radix influit in omnes, et unit 
omnes influentia fua." Hence they call the 
feven laft middoth,* or Meafures, that is to 
fay, the attributes and characters which are 
vifible in the works of God j and this is con- 
feffed in plain words by the great cabalift, 
Rabbi Menachem de Rekanati : " Tres pri- 
maris numerationes, qua; funt intellectua- 
les, non vocantur MENsuR^. , ' , f 

The firft Sephirah, who is denominated 
Kether, the crown; Kadmon, the pure 
light ; and En Saph, the infinite ; is the om- 
nipotent Father of the Univerfe ; accord- 
ing to that fpirited exclamation in Ifaiah, 
xxviii. 5 : In that day /ball the Jehovah of Ho/Is 
be for a crown of glory and for a diadem 
of beauty unto the refidue of his people. The 

M 4 fecond 

* Se ? lrr Jet/irah, apud CEdip. ./Egypt, torn. ii. p. 297. ■ 
f Rabbi MemcKem, cited by ftittangel in the notes to his edi- 
tion of the Sephir jetzirah, p. 193. 



[ m i 

fecond Is the Cochma, whom we have fuffi- 
ciently proved, both from facred and rabbini- 
cal writings, to be the creative wisdom. The 
third is the Binah, or heavenly intelli- 
gence, whence the Egyptians had their 
cneph, and Plato his Ns? hpntfyos* He is 
the Holy Spirit who infpired the prophets ; 
and who, although in a very different manner 
from that cneph and that N^, pervades, ani- 
mates, and governs, the boundlefs univefe. 
I have obferved, in a note in a former page, 
that Rabbi Hagahon affirmed, that there were 
three lights in God, the ancient light, 
the pure light, and the purified light. 
By this expreffion, the rabbi undoubtedly 
meant the three firft Sephiroth ; and the idea 
of Hagahon may be very plainly traced both 
in the apocryphal and genuine books of 
Scripture. This rabbinical notion of the 
three lights difcovers itfelf in the book 
of Wifdom, vii. 26. Wisdom (Cochma, 
the fecond Sephirah) is the brightness of 
the everlasting light, the unspotted 
mirror of the power of God, and the image 
of his goodnefs. An expreffion alfo, remark- 
ably fimilar, occurs in St. Paul himfelf 1 who, 
having been brought up at the feet of Ga- 
maliel, was, we may well fuppofe, fully 

acquainted 



f 185 ] 

acquainted with all the doctrines of the 
ancient fynagogue; for, fpeaking of Chrift, 
he calls him the brightness of Ms Fa- 
ther s glory, and the express image of his 
perfon. Heb. i. 3. It is not improbable that, 
in aliufion to this very ancient fymbol of 
the Tree of the Sephiroth, in various parts 
of the Old Teftament, the Logos himfeif 
is figuratively denominated the branch* 
We find, in Zechariah iii, 8, Jehovah, fpeak- 
ing of the Meffiah, declares, Behold, I will 
bring forth my fervant, the branch ; and, 
again, in the fame prophet, vi. 12, the 
Meffiah is called, the Man whofe name Jhall 
be the branch, and he Jhall grow up 
out of his place 1 that is, (obferves Lowth 
on the paffage,) from the stock or family 
of David : and he Jhall build the temple of the 
Lord. 

It is of thefe three fuperior Sephiroth, of 
thefe fublime and living Spirits, who, from 
all eternity, have dwelt together, tc in the 
fecret and profound abyfs of the Divinity, 
in the centre of inacceffible light," that 
Rabbi Ifaac, another famous commentator 
on the Jetzirah, fpeaks, when he raptu- 
roufly calls them, <c Numerations altiffi- 
mas, quae poffident thronum unura, in quo 

fedet 



[ 1 86 ] 

fedet Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Domi- 
nus, Deus Sabaoth."* It is of thefe that 
Rabbi Akiba himfelf, as cited in the fame 
Sephir jetzirah, lixteen hundred years ago 
faid " Unus eft Spiritus Deorum viven- 
tium, Vox, et Spiritus, et Verbum ; et 
hie eit Spiritus Sanctrtatis."*f* It is of thefe 
that the often-cited rabbi, S. Hag-ahon, ufes 
terms nearly fimilar : " Unus eft Spiritus 
Deorum viventium, Vox, Spiritus, et Ver- 
bum, quae unum funt." And, finally, it 
is of thefe that the great Rambam, (that 
is, Maimonides,) the mod illuftrious of all 
their rabbies, bears this folemn teftimony : 
*' Corona summa primordiaiis eft Spiritus 
Deorum viventium, et sapientia ejus eft 
Spiritus de Spiritu, et intelligently, a- 
quae ex Spiritu. Et tametfi res horum 
myftericrum diftinguantur in sapientia, in- 
telligentia, et scientia, nulla tamen in 
ter eas diftinclio quoad eflentiam eft, quia 
finis ejus annexus eft principio ejus, et 
princifium wtm ejus, et medium compre- 
henditur ab eis."J More pointed attfefta- 
tion than the above, and under their own 

hand, 

* jetzirah., apud Kircher, torn. ii. p. 292. 
f Jetzirah cum nods Rittangel, cap. i. fee. 9. 
X Rambam, apud Kircher, torn. ii. p. 295. 



[ i*7 1 

hand, < cannot well be brought in proof, 
that the ancient Jewifh rabbi did, in rea- 
lity, conceive the three fir ft Sephrioth, or 
splendors, to mine with a degree of luftre 
peculiar and intrinfic ; that they were Be- 
ings eternal and intelledtual, while the re- 
maining Sephiroth were nothing more than 
the perfections and attributes of Deity. 

The names of thofe Sephiroth are, Gedu- 
l ah, Strength or Severity ; Gebutah, Mer- 
cy or Magnificence ; Tipheroth, Beauty 5 
Nersah, Victory or Eternity; Hod, Glory; 
Jesod, the Foundation; Malcuth,* or the 
Kingdom. This is the order in which they 
are arranged in the circular table engraved in 
the work of M. Bafhage, of which I have 
prefented the reader with a copy. The circle, 
being the mo ft perfect of figures, denotes the 
perfe6lion of Deity and its attributes. That 
Deity, infinite in his nature, and otherwife 
incomprehenfible to man, has chofen to ma- 
nifeft himfelf by his attributes, as the foul 
manifefts herfelf by acts of wifdom and vir- 
tue. As the virtue, latent in the coal, is 
difplayed by the flame which it diffufes ; fo is 
the glory of the Deity revealed by the emana- 
tions which proceed from him. To iliuftrate 
their fcntiments, the Jews have imagined 

certain 



[ 188 ] 

certain conduits, or canals, through which 
the influences of the Splendors are communi- 
cated, and glide into one another. The per- 
fections of God are the pillars which fup- 
port the univerfe. Mercy illumines justice, 
and beauty decorates strength. The fe- 
phirotic canals, which are twenty-two in 
number, correfponding to that of the letters 
of the Hebrew alphabet, convey the influ- 
ences throughout the whole circumference of 
creation, harmonifing all the orders of being, 
and regulating all the operations of nature, 
Thefe canals never afcend 5 for, as the fource 
of the terreftrial rivers is in the lofty and 
inacceffible mountains ; fo does the celeftial 
ftream of the Sephiroth fpring up out of the 
remote and inexhauftible fountain of the 
Godhead. The romantic imaginations of the 
rabbi have conceived no lefs than fifty gates, 
which are fo many degrees of wifdom, and 
fo many avenues to the attainment of fub- 
lime and myfterious truths. It is incum- 
bent on men that they ftudy the myste- 
ries before they can receive the influx of 
divine light. But the progrefs through 
thefe gates, of the candidate for celeftial wife 
dom, is exceedingly flow, and obftru&ed by 
numerous difficulties, Mofes is recorded to 

have 



[ i8.9 1 

have paffed through the forty-ninth, and Jo- 
ihua, his fucceffor, to have reached the forty- 
eighth ; but neither Mofes himfelf, nor even 
Solomon, who in wifdom furpaffed all man- 
kind, could ever open the fiftieth gate, which 
leads immediately into the prefence of the En 
Saph, the Infinite and Omnipotent God, whom 
no mortal ever yet beheld or could fully com- 
prehend* 

I fhouid not have dwelt fo long on thefe 
particulars, but for the very ftriking re- 
< femblance which fubfifts between this re- 
lation and what has previoufiy occurred 
concerning the rites of initiation into the 
Mithratic and Eleufynian myfteries ; the 0a« 
?«r«, or divine lights, difplayed in them, 
during that fplendid exhibition, to the view 
of the initiated: and the intellectual 
ladder and sidereal gates, mentioned in 
Celfus. 

That paffage cited from Celfus, in the fecond 
volume of this work, in which the fidereal Me- 
tempfychofis, or migration of the foul through 
the seven planetary gates, is fymbolically 
reprefented, is a very curious fragment of an- 
tiquity, for which we are obliged to Origen, 
who was engaged in a theological controverfy 

with 

* Bafna« and the rabbies there cited, p. 189. 



[ igo ] 

with that philofopher: it is likewife a very 
valuable one, becaufe we find no fuch particu- 
lar information relative to the Mithratic rites, 
once fo predominant throughout Afia, in any 
other of the ancient writers on that fubje6t. 
Celfus poffibly might have converfed with 
fome Perfian who had been initiated into thofe 
profound myfteries in which the Metempfycho- 
fis was fo early propagated, and the fymbols of 
the do£trine itfelf fo confpicuoufly difplayed. 
The general prevalence of that doftrine in the 
remoteft periods in Perfia, India, and Egypt, 
exhibits another proof that they muft all have 
originally derived it from fome common 
fource, the corrupted branch of one great fa- 
mily 5 and it came to the Perfians through the 
medium of the prior Zoroafter, or Belus, whofe 
name indicates him to have been the earlieft 
aftronomer ; who built the firft obfervatory ; 
and who firft taught mankind the worfliip of 
the planets. How far the ancient Jews fane- 
tioned with their affent the do6lrine of the 
Metempfychofis will be difcuffed hereafter 
when we confider the Zoraftrian Oracles ; 
but that they were no ftrangers to the fymbol 
is evident fo early as the age of the patriarch 
Jacob, who not only beheld that mighty 
ladder fet upon the earth, the top of which 

reached 



I 

lit E r 9 r J 

i reached up to heaven, and on which the ange- 
lic beings afcended and defcended, but at the fight 
| exclaimed, Surely this is none other than the 
! house of God, and this is the gate of hea- 
\ ven ! Here then is a moft anient patriarchal 
notion plainly taken up and propagated after- 
wards in the Gentile world, but flourifhing 
among the Jews before their sojourning 
in Egypt. Indeed I cannot help remarking, 
that, the farther we advance in our comparifoa 
of the fciences prevailing among the moft an- 
cient Hebrews and thofe flourifhing during 
the earlier! periods among the other nations 
of the Eaft, we fhall difcover additional and 
more powerful arguments in fupport of the 
hypothecs, of which fome faint outlines are 
drawn in the preface of this volume, that all 
the fciences and theology of the ancient world 
originally came, not from Egypt, but from 
Chaldasa, and, in particular, that aftronomy, 
the nobleft of them, was carried in that part 
of Afia to a high point of improvement before 
it began to be cultivated in Egypt. In the 
book of Job, many pallages ha.ve been pointed 
out by Mr. Coftard in proof of this alfertion, 
and ftrong additional evidence will hereafter 
by adduced by myfelf. As we penetrate deeper 
into the myftery of the Hebrew Sephiroth, we 

find 

i 

i 



[ *9 2 1 

find circumftances open, which evince it to 
have been at once a phyfical and a theological 
{ymbol: and to me it appears indubitable, 
that the primitive idea altogether originated 
in aftronomical fpeculations. It is neceflary, 
then, to acquaint the reader, that thefe fifty- 
gates of wifdom are diftinguifhed by the He- 
brew myftagogues into five chief ones, each 
of which comprehends ten. The three former 
of thefe greater gates include the knowledge 
of the firft principles of things; and, in paffing 
through them, the foul is bufied in difcuffing 
the nature of the firft matter, of the gloomy 
chaos, of the immenfe void, and of theelements ; 
the mineral and vegetable creation j infedls, 
reptiles, fifhes, birds, and quadrupeds - y and, 
finally, of the creation of man, of his faculties, 
fenfes, and various other particulars of a deep 
metaphyfical kind. But it is the fourth gate 
which in a lingular manner claims our atten- 
tion; for, through that gate we are imme- 
diately introduced into the planetary world ; 
and all the wonders of aftronomy, as far as 
then known, are exhibited to our view. There 
we find one of the names of the /even planets^ 
and one of the /even angels who direft their 
courfe, allotted to each of the inferior Sephi- 
roth % and upon this I found my conjefture 

that 



1 t • I . 

[ m ] 

that the whole might originally be an agro- 
nomical fymbol j the oldeft, doubtlefs, in the 
poftdiluvian world, and poffibly tindured with 
the wifdom of the antediluvians. Hence, 
probably, the seven gates erefted in the ca- 
verns of Mithra; hence the Brahmin Char 
Asherum,* or four degrees of Hindoo pro- 
bation, if not the whole body of fcience and 
theology inculcated in the four Vedas, or 
books of knowledge; hence the excruciating 
trials, ftill more fevere than thofe in India, 
through which the afpirant in the Perfian 
myfteries was compelled to toil while he pafled 
the twenty-four degrees cf probation, and 
I fuffered the dreadful fall of fifty days^ 
hence were derived the Zoroaftrian Wifdom 
and the Chalda'ic Theurgy, as well as their 
magic and other dark arts of divination, which 
fpread thence to Egypt, to Greece, and 
from thofe countries throughout the whole 
world. 

The conjecture of the Sephiroth being of 
aftronomical original is not a little ftrengthen- 

N ed 

* When I come to the confideration of the Char Ashe rum, 
I fhall compare the fufferings of the Brahmin and Perfian candi. 
dates for initiation, which were of a nature appalling and tre- 
mendous, being plunged in alternate baths of flame and water. 

f See Porphyry de Abftinentia, cap. 6, feft. 18. 



[ 194 1 

ed by their very name of celestial bright- 
nesses, as if we fhould fay the Sapphires of 
the Sky, and by the Hebrew title prefixed to 
the fourth gate of wifdom, in the Cabala He- 
bneorum, of which the tranflation is, Mundus 
Sphjerarum. In this table the three fuperior 
Sephiroth are denominated, the firft, Ccelum 
Empyreum ; the fecond, Primum Mobile; the 
third, Firmamentum ; that is, the three 
heavens : while to the feven inferior, accord- 
ing to the order of their numeration, are 
affigned the names of the seven planets, or 
the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, 
Jupiter, and Mars. Confonant to the ancient 
idea, mentioned before, of the ftars being tim- 
mated intelligences, the Hebrews appointed to 
thefe feven planets, as they did to all the ftars, 
prefiding angels, whofe names are Raphael, 
Haniel, Michael, Gabriel, Zaphkiel, Zadkiel, 
Gamaliel $ and thefe probably are the fame with 
the seven ministring angels, that, m the 
Revelations, are faid to ftand before the throne 
of God. This circumftance, alone, if duly 
confidered, exhibits the moftdired corrobora- 
tive teftimony of the inferior point of view in 
which the Jews regarded the seven last Se- 
phiroth.* 

One 



* See CEdip, iEgypt. torn. ii. p. 5 2 °i and Bafnage, p. H. 



c ** i 

One of the moft ancient fymbolical repre- 
fentations of a triune power exifting in the 
! Godhead, and one the moft of all illuftrative 
of the ideas entertained by the Jews on this 
j fubjecl, is that which I am now about to ex- 
hibit to the reader : it is the ancient mode by 
which they defignated the name Jehovah, and, 
if Kircher may be credited, is at this day to 
j be fee a in the old Hebrew manufcripts of the 
| Vatican. The reader has already received fome 
i intimation of the profound veneration in 
which the Jews have ever holden this ineffable 
name: but the cahalifts have exceeded all 
bounds in their romantic panegyrics upon its 
i awful properties and wonderful perfections. 

At the pronunciation of this auguft name, 
j thofe rhapfodifts affirm, all Nature trembles $ 
the angels feel the motion of the univerfe, 
and afk one another with aftonifhment, whence 
comes this concuffion of the world ? Scrip- 
ture itfelf feems to authorife the moft pro- 
found veneration for it, fince it was of this 
name that the royal Pfalmift exclaimed, O 
Lord God! how excellent is thy name in all the 
earth. Every letter that contributes to the 
formation of it is of the moft deep and myfte- 
I rious import. The \ or Jod, which is the 
| firft, denotes the thought, the idea, of God. 

N 2 It 

I 



[ *9& I 

It is a ray of light! fay the enraptured 
cabalifts, which darts a luftre too tranfcendant 
to be contemplated by mortal eye ; * it is a 
point, at which thought paufes, and imagi- 
nation itfelf grows giddy and confounded. 
<c Man," fays the rabbies, " man, may law- 
fully roll his thoughts from one end of heaven 
to the other ; but they cannot approach that i 
inacceffible light, that primitive exiftence, 
contained in the letter Jod."f To the other 
letters in this ineffable name fcarcely lefs 
wonders are attributed; but what rnuft be 
confidered as very remarkable, is, that, ac- 
cording to Kircher, the ancient Jews abfo- 
lutely applied the three firft letters of this 
name to denote the three fuperior Sephiroth ; 
and he remarks, that, in fa&, there are but 
three diftindt letters in the word, which are, 
Jod, He, and Vau; the laft letter being only a 
repetition of the fecond. The initial *, jod, 
therefore, denotes the fins et principium, or j 
firft hypoftafis; the n, He, being one of their 
double or compounded letters, is properly ap- 
plied to exprefs the fecond hypoftafis, who 

unites, 

* See, in page 200, the coronal radii, by which were de- j 
fignated the three jods by which they anciently iyinbohzcd tib 

name Jehovah. 

f M. Bafnage's Killory of the Je\vs> p. 193. 



C *97 ] 

unites, in his own perfon, two natures, the 
divine and the human ; while the medial 1, 
Vau, which is copulative, combining the 
letters preceding and fabfequent, is as juft an 
emblem of the Holy Spirit j of that Spirit, 
ct qui, cum fit amor Patris et Fiiii, quo fe 
invicem amant, refte nexus et copula uttri- 
ufque nuncupatur* Quarta verb litera H, 
He, fecundse jundta in HUT, Jehovah, dupli- 
cem in filio naturam defignat: H equidem 
poft \ divinam ; H vero poft 1, humanam"* 
This curious information is tranfcribed by 
Kircher from Galatinus, who quotes rabbini- 
cal authority in proof of his affertions. Left, 
however, thefe writers fhould be thought fan- 
ciful, and the evidence fufpicious, I fliall im- 
mediately proceed to produce evidence more 
direftly in point, and from as high authority 
as can be brought. 

One of the profoundeft fcholars that ever 
fiourifhed in the annals of Hebrew literature, 
fince the asra of Chriftianity, was Buxtorf 
the younger; and his treatife on the ten names 
of God is delervedly holden, even by the Jews 
themfelves, in a degree of refpedt with which 
they honour few Chriftian writers befi(t& 
His remarks on the mofl venerated title, mn% 
N 3 Jehovah, 

* GUip yEgypt, torn. a. 0-234. 



[ 198 ] 

Jehovah, particularly ttieffi: our attention, 
fince they open new foiirces of information, 
and unfold the moft iecret myfteries of the 
cabalifts. cl This hame," fays Buxtorf, " fig- 
nifies Ens, existens a seifso, ab cezemo et in 
rtterrMW cmnibiifque aliis extra fe ejjeniiam et 
extftentiam communicant ; the Berrirg exifting of 
neceffity from all eternity and to eternity, 
and communicating to all things being and 
fubftance " In another place, confonant to a 
phrafe of St. John in the Apocalypfe, he afferts 
that Jehovah fignifies the Being who is, and 
who was, and who is to come ; and re- 
marks that the letters, which compofe the 
word, in a Angular manner illuftrate the 
meaning of it; " Nam, litera Jod ab ini- 
tio charaaeriftica eft futuri : Vau in medio, 
participii temporis prefentis : He, in fine, cum 
Kametz fubfcripto, prateritt" — " .Accord, 
Ingly," adds Buxtorf, c< God was pleafed myfti- 
cally to reveal and typify himfelf under that 
name to Mofes ; fui, sum, ero."* 

According to this author, " In antiquis 
pargphrafibus Chaldaicis manufcriptis Judaso- 
rum, nomen hoc Tetragrammaton fcrihi- 
tur per tria Jod cum fubfcripto Kamets, 

et 

* Vide Buxtorfi Differt. de Nominibus Dei Hebraicis, apud 
alias Differt. pp. itf> 242, edit, Bafi!, quarto, 1662. 



C 199 1 

et nonnunquam circulo inclufa. Tria Jod, 
putant denotare tres hypoftafes 5 tria Jod, 
tres sequales hypoftafcs > unicum Kametz, 
tribus illis fubfcriptum, effentiam unicam 
tribus perfonis communem."* It is affirmed, 
that, in the ancient Chaldee paraphrafes, pre- 
ferved in manufcripts among the Jews, the 
facred Tetragrammaton is written after the 
following manner: They drew three Jods 
with the point Kametz placed underneath, 
and fometimes inclofed the whole in a circle. 
The three Jods were fo drawn to mark the 
three hypostases in the divine nature. E- 
qual in magnitude, and fimilar in form, they 
denoted the co-equality of thofe perfons. By 
the fingle Kametz, placed underneath, they 
meant to fymbolize the unity of the effence, 
common to each perfon. The author of a 
rabbinical book, cited by Kircher, and intituled 
Pardes, confirms the fa£t thus related by 
' Buxtorf, in the following exprefs words : Quod 
ad myfierium hoc nomtn fcribunt tribus J od ; 
and Lilkis Gyraldusf afferts the fame thing : 
•« Apud antiquos quofdaqi Hebrseos legimus 
N 4 hac 

* Vide Buxtorft Diflert. de Nominibus Dei Hebraicis, apud 
alias Differ t. p. z6o, edit. Bafil, quarto, 1662. 

f Lilii Gyraldi Hift. Deorum, Syntagma i. p. 2. 



[ 200 ] 

hac fignifkatione notarum, tribus videlicet Jod 
Uteris, quae circulo concludebantur, fuppolito 



pun&o Chametz hoc modo : 




There is no occafion to colled: additional e- 
vidence on this fubjed from Hebrew authori- 
ties, fince, as I have already remarked, Kir- 
cher affirms, that, to his own knowledge, all 
the raoft ancient Hebrew manufcripts of the 
Bible in the Vatican exhibit the Tetragram- 
maton thus written. Nor was this the only 
emblematical defign by which the ancient rab- 
bies have difcovered to pofterity their true 
fentiments on the fubje£l, fo obftinately de- 
nied by their defendants; for, Galatinehas 
proved that they fometimesdefignated the myf- 
terious name of God by three radii, or points, 
difpofed in the form of a crown,*f after ths 



following manner : 




And Johannes Hortenfius, in a book written 
expreffiy on the myftical fignification of the 
Hebrew letters, and cited in the original by 
Kircher, thus corroborates his , affertions : 

<c Ve teres, 

f Galatinus, lib. ii. cap. x. fol. 49 and 50. 



[ 201 ] 

<s Veteres, alia ratione, fcribebant Jehovah ; 
alia, legebant. Quidam id, tribus jod, 
quidam tribus apicibus, ad trium divi- 
narum proprietatum judicandum, icribe- 
bant." 

The Jews apply the letters of the He- 
brew alphabet to numerical purpofes; and 
Calmet informs us, that they believe all the 
letters of that alphabet depend upon the 
name Jehovah. They caft up, therefore, 
the fum and value of thofe which compofe 
that name, and frame, thence, one of 
twelve, mentioned, but not explained, in 
a preceding note ; /. e. the Hemmimpho- 
ras : another of forty-two, of which a fpe- 
cimen occured in a former page: an4 a 
third of feventy-two letters, which is en- 
dued with a more wonderful potency than 

jtBi 

If the reader fhould be defirous of know- 
ing more about the power afcribed to facred 
names and myftic numbers by the ancient 
Hebrews; from whom it cannot be doubted 
but that Pythagoras, when at Babylon, ftole 
his facred tetractys, or quaternion of let- 
ters, and other numerical fymbols ; he may 
| confult M. Bafnage, lib. ii. cap. 13 and 14, 
who has entered extenfively into that curious 
N fubje£t. 

j 



[ 202 ] 

fubjecl. Various tables of thefe facred nu- 
merical calculations are alfo exhibited, among 
the Cabala Hebrseorum, in the fecond volume 
of the CEdipus iEgyptiacus ; and, though 
they may appear trifling, yet they rife to 
infinite magnitude and importance, when any 
dod:rine, fo momentous as that under difcuf- 
fion, can be proved thence not only to have 
been admitted into their creed, but to have 
bet 1 he fubjeft of extenfive Speculation and 
of profound refearch. This is apparent from 
the following remark of the fame celebrated 
and holy rabbi, from whom the Hebrew paf- 
fage was cited in page 153 preceding : " Ex 
nomine duodecim literarum emanat nomen 
42 literarum 5 quod eft, Pater Deus, Fi- 
lius Deus, Spiritus Sanctus Deus, tri- 
nus in uno, et unus in trino ; quse in He- 
bra'ieo 42 literse." The cautious rabbi im- 
mediately fubjoins, " Notare autem debes, 
hsec nomina effe ex divinis arcanis, quae a 
quocunque occultari debent, quoufque veniat 
Messias Justus noster. Ilia tibi patejeci; 
tu verb ea occulta for titer." 




1 



1 

[ 203 ] 

I have obferved, in a preceding page, that 
the author of the Zohar muft have been con- 
j vinced of this diftin£tion in the divine nature, 
| fince he brings the Hebrew letter Schin as a 
fymbol of that diftin&ion. He aflerts, that 
I the three branches, arifing out of the root 
of this letter, are an emblem of the heaven^ 
ly Fathers, whom he denominates, Jeho- 
vah, our Lord, Jehovah.* This compari- 
fon, indeed, was natural enough to an author 
who, according to a paflage cited before, had 
exclaimed, " Veni, et vide myfterium verbi 
Elohim! Sunt tres gradus, et quilibet gra- 
dus per fe diftin&us ; veruntamen funt unws, 
et in unum conjunguntur, nec unus ab altero 
dividitur."^ I am inclined to think, that, In 
this very comparifon, there is ftill a latent al- 
lufion to the tree of the Sephiroth $ f or, 
we fee the parallel extended both to the rcot 
and to the branches of this letter. Whet her 
or not there be any truth in the obfervation, 
it is ftill very remarkable, that this Hebrew 
letter, t#, is the fir ft of the word, Stiad- 
dai, or Almighty, one of the appro; mate 
and incommunicable names of God. S*chin- 

dler 

* Zohar, fol. 54, col. 2 ; and Dr. Allix, p. 170. 

f R. Simeon Sen. Jochai, in Zohar, ad 6 Levit fci fe&io- 
I nem. 

1 



[ 204 ] 

dler and other Hebrew lexicographers repre- 
fent it as exhibiting the figure of a trident, 
and as a letter of high myftical import among 
the cabalifts. In the more ancient Samaritan 
character, the ftrokes of this letter are ftill 
more equal, and the idea of co-equality, 
therefore, more exa&ly expreffed : but dif- 
tinft traces of both thofe letters are evi- 
dently difcernible in the Perfian and Arabian 
Sen in j of which latter language Sir William 
Jones, in the preface to his Perfian Grammar, 
afferts, that the Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the 
Syriac, and the Ethiopian, tongues are only 
dialeds. 

The Head-Phylactery of the Jews, 
copied from surenhusius. 




Surenhufius, 



I 205 ] 

Surenhufius, in his notes upon the Mifch- 
na,* giving an account, from Rabbi Maimo- 
nides, of the tephilim, or phylatteries, 
which the jews were accuftomed to v<-< , af- 
ferts, that, on the outfide of the phyiaceery 
for the head, both before and behind, this 
letter was cut fo high and deep as to be dif- 
tiu&ly vifible, and ilrikingly to attraft the 
eye. In the phyladteries, or mezuzoth, 
which they fattened round the left arm, the 
fame word HtP, Shaddai, was infcribed at 
length ; and the reader will be pleafed to re- 
mark, that this very word contains both the 
Schin, the acknowledged fymbol of the three 
hypoftafes, and the Jod, the initial letter of 
the word Jehovah. Calmet adds fomewhat 
ftill farther remarkable ; for, according to 
him, the old Jews not only wore this myfti- 
cal letter on the phyladtery, but took efpeciat 
care to tie the thong that bound it round the 
arm in a knot refembling the form of the let- 
ter JoD.-j- This was, doubtlefs, done to ex- 
prefs that unity, by which, though we 
know not the manner, the three hypoftafes 

are 

* Vide the Mischna, torn. i. p. 9, edit, foil Amfterdam, 
1698; where the reader will find all the fpecies of phylacleries ac- 
curately engraved. 

f See Calmet's Dictionary, on the word Phylaclery, 



E 206 l 

are infeparably connected. And here juftice 
compels me to add; to the honour of that 
nation of whofe fublime theology this tenet 
forms the predominant feature, and that 
which diftinguifhed them in fo remarkable a 
manner from the furrounding nations, in- 
volved as thofe nations were in a barbarous 
and boundlefs polytheifm ; that, by whatever 
fymbolical allufions they anciently figured 
out the plurality of the perfons, they, at 
the fame time, conftantly and decifively mark- 
ed the unity of the efTence. Befides the 
evidence juft adduced, I have exhibited in- 
ftances of their rigid adherence to this max- 
im in the circle that included the three 
Jods, as well as in the root of the branch- 
ing tree of the Sephiroth and of the let- 
ter Schin : I fhall now produce an addi- 
tional proof of this affertion in the figurative 
way by which they anciently defignated the 
Jod, that important and myflical letter, 
concerning which fo much has been already 
faid. 

The reader has been informed, from Sir 
William Jones, that the Hindoos have a fa- 
cred alphabet, the characters compofing which 
are believed to have been taught to the Brah- 
mins by a voice from heaven 5 as well as that 

the 



I 207 ] 

the Egyptians alfo had a facred facerdotal lan- 
guage, in which were wrapped up the moft 
awful myfteries of their theology, and to 
which they equally affigned a ce> iai origin. 
The Jews, in their affertions, are by no means 
behind their Afiatic and African com Debtors 
for literary renown, fince they boaft of a ce- 
leftial and myftical alphabet communicated 
by angels to the patriarchs, their anceftors.* 
This alphabet may, with more truth than 
either of the others, be called celestial, 
fince the charadters that compofe it were, ia 
the earlieft ages, applied in the very fame 
manner as Bayer, in modern times, made ufe 
of the letters of the Greek alphabet, more 
diftindtly to mark the pofition of the ftars in 
the various conftellations. The plate, which 
difplays thofe letters thus applied, is a moft 
curious remnant of Jewifli antiquities, to be 
feen in the Pantheon Hebraicum, and I may 
poffibly, hereafter, borrow it from Kircher, to 
illuftrate my fentiments' on the early profi- 
ciency of the Hebrew patriarchs in aflrono- 
mical fcience : for the prefent, I mention it 
only to remark the proof which it affords 
how early the Jews entertained the notions 
of a heavenly Triad, and yet how anxious 

they 

* See this alphabet in CEdip. ^Egypt. torn. ii. p. 105. 



[ 208 ] 

they were, at the fame time, to exprefs the 
unity. The Hebrew Jod, then, in that al- 
phabet, is defignated by an equilateral 
triangle to denote the former, and a sin- 
gle Jod to (hadow out the latter, in the fol- 
lowing manner : 



If any body fhould, in anfwer to this, con- I 
tend, that the Jews might have borrowed the 
notion of thus reprefenting the three divine 
hypoftafes from the Egyptians, among whom, 
I have myfelf repeatedly -obferved, this geo- 
metrical figure was a known emblem of De- 
ity ; I fhall not violently difpute that point in 
favour of the Jews, in oppofition to the peo- 
ple who, probably, of all other nations, firft 
cultivated the fcience of geometry ; but ftiall 
only remark, that, though a ceded, it would 
by no means be a proved, point, I (hall leave 
it to the reader's refleftion, and to what 
may be the refult, in his mind, of a comparU 
fon of this with other kindred fymbols pre- 
vioufly produced. 

Another evident and memorable token of 
the belief in this myftery of the ancient He- 
brews is the manner in which (it has been 
already remarked) the high-prieft was annu- 
ally 




[ 20 9 J 

I ally accuftomed to blefs the aflembled people; 
Daring this ceremony, he not only three 

! times* pronounced the eternal benedidtion, 

1 quoted before from Numbers vi. 24, and 
each different time in a different accent j but, 
in the elevation of his hands, extended the 
three middle- fingers of his right hand in fo 
confpicuous a manner as to exhibit a manifeft 
emblem of thofe three hypostases, to 
whom the triple benediction and repetition 
of the word Jehovah, in a varied tone of 
voice, evidently pointed. I am credibly in- 
formed, that, at this day, on certain high 
feftivals and folemnities, this form of blef- 

1 fing the people is ftill adhered to by the 
Jewifh priefts, but is attempted to be ex- 
plained by them, as if allufive to the three 
patriarchs, Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob j an 
explanation, of which it may be doubted 
whether it favours more of impiety or ab- 
furdity. Captain Innys, of Madras, will, I 
hope, excufe my producing him as a voucher 
on fo important a fatt as that the Moham- 
medan priefts alfo, at prefent, ufe the fame 
form ; for, when in England, that gentleman 

O informed 

I 

* Kircher, to prove this cuftom, gives the higheft authority pof- 
j fible, that is, Maimonides: " TERTIO, nqn sine altiS- 
simo mysteiuo, TESTE RAMBAM." 



1 



r m ] 

informed me he had been an ocular wknefs 
of it in India. This is a very ftrong collate- j 
ral circumftancej for, fince it is notorious | 
that Mohammed was indebted for a confider- 
able part of his theological knowledge to the 
fecret inftru&ions of a Jew,* he probably 
learned from that Jew the fymbol ; and it was j 
confequently pra&ifed in the Arabian mofques 
fo early as the feventh century* Nor ought | 
the circumfiance of the Mohammedan faith, 
inculcating in fuch direft terms the unity of 
God, to be urged as any objeflion, fince nei- 
ther the Jew nor the impoftor, might have 
known the original caufe or meaning of the 
ufage. The* fymbol itfelf is preferved by i 
Kircher, from whom the reprefentation an* 
nexed is copied. 




The 

* See Mr. Sale's profound preliminary difcourfe to the Koran* 
and the article Mo h a m m eb in the GeneralDiftionary. 



[ 211 ] 

The fame author acquaints us, a Reperio 
quoque, unico digito erefto, qui index dici- 
tur, in quo tria internodia tria Jod expri- 
mebant, veteres juramentum hoc modo prse- 
ftitifTe i** 




Which information I infert, not that I lay any 
ftrefs upon it, although the faft is curious 
enough, but on account of the intelligence 
contained in the latter part of the fentence, 
where our author fubjoins $ " quam confue- 
tudinem et Pythagoram, digito elato, per 
tetractyn jurare folitum, in fcholam fuam 
tranftuliffe verifimile eft."* Indeed, it is 
highly improbable, that Pythagoras, while he 
ftole the facred name of the Hebrew Deity, 
fhould neglefl to imitate alfo the myftic mode 
of defignating that name, or fymbolizing 
that Deity. This form of bellowing the 
benedidtion, as mentioned above, he remarks 
in another place, is flill obferved in many 
O 2 provinces 



* CEdip. JEgypU torn. ii. p. 241, ubi fupra. 



I 212 ] 

provinces under the jurifdi&ion of the Greek, 
and even the Roman, church; <c In hunc 
diem, non in Graeca tantiim ecclefia, fed et 
Latina, multis in locis adhuc moris effe in- 
telligo; etfi moderni Hebnei, in odium fanc- 
tas fidei noftrss, uno omiffo Jod, plerumque 
duobus tantiim id effigient ut fequitur ; • 

The laft fymbol which I fnail feledt in 
proof of thefe affertions, from that valua- 
ble repofitory of Afiatic antiquities, the GE~ 
dipus iEgyptiacus, is as remarkable a one as 
any of thofe preceding ; and proves that the 
Jews could not only delineate fpheres, but that 
they thought the globe, thus artificially re- 
prefented, was, in reality, fupported by three 
fovereign, but co* equal, hypoftafes, fymbo- 
lized in a manner exa&iy conformable to the 
old Jewifh notion; which, I have fhewn in 
a preceding page, fo remarkably difplays 
itfelf in the paraphrafe of Jonathan, and 
that called the Jerufalem Targum : it is 
a fpecies of armiliary fphere, fuitained by 
three hands, and infcribed with three 
Hebrew letters, the initials of three Hebrew 
words fignifying Truth, Judgement, and 

PEACE.-f* 

From 



» C£dip. iEgypt. torn. ii. p. 11^. 

f See this fymbol engraved alfo on the plate annexed. 



From the rabbinical notion of the two 
! hands of God, (a notion at leaft eighteen 
! hundred years old,) we fhould be naturally 
! led to conclude, that this was a very ancient 
I fymbol of the Triune Power that governed 
j the world ; and it was copied by our author 
from the beginning of a manufcript-com- 
mentary on the famous rabbinical book 
called Pirche Avoth. Rabbi Gamalides, 
who compofed that commentary, thus ex- 
] plains the fymbol which formed poffibly the 
! frontispiece of his volume; "Super tria 
mundus fubfiftit ; fupra Veritatem, fupra Ju- 
dicium, et Pacem 5 juxta quod dicitur: Veri- 
tas, et Judicium, et Pax, judicant in portis 
! yeftris The univerfe is eftablijhed upon Truth, 
Judgement, and Peace ; according to that facred 
adage, Truth, Judgement, and Peace, prefide 
within your gates. Thefe words were, doubtlefs, 
intended by this rabbi as allufive to the Omni- 
potent Judge of all the earth ; to that An- 
CIent of Days before whopi the Judgement 
was Jet and the books were opened-, to that Mes- 
siah, who declared that He was, at once, 

THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE ; and 

to that holy Ruah, who is the author arid 
, giver of Ahh peace. 

O 3 The 

I ■ . 



[ 214 ] 

The ftupendous fymbol of the Hebrew 
Cherubim mud now become the fubjeft of 
our extenfive difquifition % a fymbol which, 
I have obferved, in the minute investigation 
of the objefls which compofe it, will compel 
us to t&ke a wide range in the walks of 
Afiatic theology and philofophy, and will 
gradually lead us back to that point from 
which we have fo long diverged, but which 
we have not entirely negled:ed, during this 
digreffion, the theological rites of Hindoftan, 
In which the grand triad, Brahma, Veefh- 
nu, and Seeva, bear fo prominent and eonfpi* 
cuous a part. 

In the works of Philo Judseus there is an 
exprefs difFertation upon the Cherubim, in 
which that writer repeatedly afferts, that 
thofe two powers in God, which we have 
feen the paraphrafts denominate the two 
hands of God, are fymbolized by the cheru- 
bic figures of the ark ; in allufion to which, 
it is faid, God dwelleth between the Cherubim. 
The learned Bochart, in his treatife ec De Ani- 
malibus Sacne Scripture," and Spencer, " De 
Origme Areas et Cherubinorum," have like- 
wile entered very deeply into the investiga- 
tion of this Hebrew hieroglyphic. There is 

one 



[ I 

ons point, however, in which I feel myfelf 
compelled to differ from Spencer and other 
writers who have propagated opimons finu- 
lar to thofe which he has laboured to fop- 
port, «fe that this fymbol owed its origin 
to the connexion of the Jews with the E- 
gyptians, becaufe Cherobim is the plural of 
Cherub * a Hebrew word fignifying to plough, 
and the god Apis was worlhipped in Egypt 
under the figure of an ox, the face of which 
animal one of the four afpetts of the Cneru- 
bim is reprefented to poflefs. I cannot but 
confider this hypothefis as an infult to the 
maiefty of that Supreme Being whofe awful 
denunciations were conftantly direfted again* 
the bafe idolatry of Egypt, as well as degra- 
ding to the charafter of his prophet. Let us, 
in the firft place, attentively confider what is 
related concerning the Cherubim in the pro, 
phetic vifion of Ezekiel , and then advert to 
what Philo and Jofephus, who muft be fup- 
pofed fully to know, and accurately to report 
the fentiments of their nation, have obferved 
on this head. It may be truly faid of the 
defcription in Ezekiel: of which, however, 

. Spencer, de Legib«s Hebrceorum, P . 7 6 3> edit. M. Cue*. 
|68;. 



fC 216 ] 

fince it extends through nearly the whole of 
the firft chapter of that prophet, I can only 
mfcrt the outlines in thefe pages 5 that, in 
grandeur of idea and energy of expreffion, it 
as far furpaffes the loftieft ftrains of Homer 
and the moft celebrated Gentile authors, 
as, in the opinion of the great critic Longi- 
nus, the account which Mofes gives of the 
creation does all their relations of the cofraq- 
gony. 

At the commencement of this fublime 
book, which is properly aflerted by Lowth 
to abound with that fpecies of eloquence to 
which the Greek rhetoricians give the deno- 
mination of Swung, and which Rapin calls 
le terrible, the prophet reprefents himfelf as 
rejourning, amidft the forrovvful captives of 
Judah, on the banks of the Chebar, when, 
to his aftoniftted view, the heavens were opened, 
and he few vijons oj God. This ftupendous 
appearance of the glory of jehovah, which 
immediately took place, is represented by him 
as preceded by a whirlwind from the north, 
attended with a great cloud, and a fire infolding 
itfelf. that is, fpiral, while a brightnefs iffued 
from the centre of it, vivid and tranfparent 
as the colour of amber. The four facred ani- 
mals 



[ 217 ] 

nials that fupported the everlafting throne 
which refemb'ed the fapphire, and on which 
fate the likeness of a man, whofe appear- 
ance, from his loins upwards and from his loins 
downwards, was like that of an ardent flame 
encircled with variegated fplendors, fuch as 
are vifible in the bow that is in the cloud in the 
day of rain, exhibited to Ezekiel a four-fold 
afpeft. They had each the face of a man; 
they had likewife the face of a lion and the face 
an ox ; they four alfo had the face of an eagle. 
They had each four wings, which were joined 
one to another; and the noife of thofe wings, 
when they moved, was loud as the noife of 
great waters, awful as the voice of the Almigh- 
ty, and the likenefs of the firmament upon the 
heads of the living creatures was as the colour 
of the terrible cryftal ftr etched forth over their 
heads above. This magnificent chariot of the 
Deity is likewife faid to have wheels af the co- 
lour qf a beryl, that is, azure, the colour of 
the fky, wheel within wheel; or, as Jona- 
than's paraphrafe tranflates the word opba- 
nim, sphere within sphere; and thofe 
wheels had rings, or ilrakes, full of eyes, fo 
high that they were dreadful } that is, obferves 
Lowth, their circumference was fo vaft as to 

raife 



[ 2l8 ] 

raife terror in the prophet who beheld them.* 
Such is the lofty description of the chariot 
that conveyed the perfonified Shechinah, 
the God-Man, who, in the likenefs of the 
rainbow, fat upon the fapphire throne, and 
who, half-human, half-divine, in that ap- 
pearance exhibited to the favoured prophet 
the myftery of the future incarnation of the 

Thus are the three perfons in the Holy 
Trinity fhadowed out under the fimilitude of 
the three nobleft animals in nature ; the bull, 
the lord of the plain; the lion, the king of 
theforeft; and the eagle, the fovereign of 
birds. But, though each of the facred Che- 
rubic figures had the afpeft of thofe auguft 
animals, they hadlikewife the face of a man, 
to denote that the human nature was blended 
with the divine in Him who condefcended to 
take our nature upon himfelf, in that partU 
eular perfon of the divine Triad who is em- 
piratically called, the Lion of the tribe of Ju- 
dah. In another chapter of this prophet, it 
is faid, that their whole body, and their bach, 
and their hands, and their wings, as well as the 
wheels, were full of eyes round about. Ezekiel, 

x, 

* Lowth 3 on Ezekiel, cap. I. 18. See atfb the whole chapter. 



[ 81.9 I 

x. 12. Thismuft be confidered as a ftriking 
and expreffive emblem of the guardian vigi- 
lance of Providence, all-feeing and omnifcient; 
while the multitude of wings, with which 
they are adorned, exhibits to us as dired 
fymbois of that powerful, that all- pervading, 
Spirit, which, while it darts through nature 
with a glance, is every where prefent to pro- 
tea and defend us. So attached to this hea- 
venly fymbol were the Jews, that, when So- 
lomon erected that ftupendous temple which 
continued for fo many ages the delight and 
boaft of the Hebrew nation, we are told, 
j Kings, vi. 29, he carved all the walk of the 
houje round about with fculptured figures of Che- 
rubim. In the fplendid vifion alfo, above-de- 
fcribed, which Ezekiel was permitted to have 
of the new temple, to be formed upon the 
model of the old, it is faid that the walls 
were adorned with carved-work of Cheru- 
bim and palm-trees ; fo that a palm-tree was be- 
tween a cherub and a cherub j and every cherub 
badtwofaces-, fo that the face of a man was to- 
•ward the palm-tree on the one fide, and the face of 
A young lion toward the palm-tree on the other 
fide: it was made through all the boufe round 
about. Ezekiel xli. 18, 19. 

That 



1* 



[ 22o ] 

That the fymbol of the Cherubim, as de- 
fcribed in Ezekiel, did not owe its fabrication 
to ideas engendered during the connexion of 
the Jews with the Egyptians, I requeft per* 
million to propofe this additional argument, 
The fymbol itfelf is apparently of aftronomU 
cal origin j and, in that light, I hope, with- 
out the imputation of aiming to engraft ro- 
mantic and unfounded notions upon the ex- 
alted fyftem of the Hebrew theology, I may 
be permitted to confider it. In facl, if un- 
jderftood in this point of view, it imparts 
great additional luftre and fublimity to that 
fyftem, fince it reprefents the eternal throne 
of God to be eftablifhed upon the ada- 
mantine pillars of the uniyerfe, as exalte 
ed on high above the canopy of heaven, 
and lupported by the rolling fpheres. In 
fact, as I giall (hew more at large hereafter, 
the lion, the bull, and the eagle, were among 
the moft ancient and the molt diftinguifhed 
of the forty-eight great cqnftellations, into 
which the Afiatic aftronomers, according to 
Ulug Beg, not the lead celebrated among 
thofe of more recent date, in the moft early 
ages, divided the vifible heavens, <c Ut au- 
tem he ftelise a fe invicem dignofcantur, ex- 
cogitate funt 48 figure, quarum 21 ad Bo- 
ream 



ream zodiac!, 12 in ipfo zodiaco, et 1 5 ad 
auftrum i"J* or, that thefe ftars might be dif- 
tinguifhed each from the other, forty-eight 
figures of animals were fixed upon, by which 
they were defignated; of thefe, 21 are fitua- 
ted to the north of the zodiac, 12 in the zo- 
diac itfeif, and 1 c to the fouth of it. This 
divifion was firflr made, as I ftiall likewife en- 
deavour to demonstrate hereafter, not by the 
philofophers of Egypt, but by the progeni- 
tors of the human race, on the beautiful and 
fpacious plains of Syria, where tradition pla- 
ces the feat of Paradife. Although I am not 
fo fanguine as to affirm, with Gale and others, 
that all the learning, for which Egypt was 
fo celebrated, efpecially in point of agrono- 
mical refearch, was imported into it by the 
Patriarchs jofeph and Abraham; yet, that 
the arts and fciences could not have had 
their birth in Egypt, there is this very flrong 
preemptive evidence : it was impofiible for 
Egypt, and, efpecially the Delta of Egypt, 
to have originally been inhabited but by a race 
already confiderably advanced in the principles 
of geometry; a people, indued with previous 
flcill to drain thole vaft marfhes that probably 

1 overfpread 

I >.' •, , .;r fmf • • ; 'it.; v a ' \\ $ 

* See Ulug Beg, Tabula; fixarum St llarum, edit, Hyde, quar- 
to,, Oxon. 166;. 

I - ' - ' ' 



[ 222 ] 

overfpread the face of the country, and to 
eredl the ftupendous dams neceflary to fefrce 
off the inundating Nile. 

That the learned among the Jews had made, 
at fome diftant period, from whatever quar- 
ter derived, very confiderable progrefs in af- 
tronomical and phyfical ftudies, is indifputa- 
bly evident from what Jofephus obferves in 
defcribing the Tabernacle, its ornaments, 
and utenfils. According to that author,* the 
Tabernacle itfelf was fabricated to refemble 
the universe : he affirms, that the twelve 
loaves, ordered by Mofes to be placed on the 
table, were emblematical of the twelve 
months which form the year; that, by 
branching out the candlefticks into seventy 
parts, he fecretly intimated the decani, or 
feventy divifions of the planets; and that the 
feven lamps upon the candlefticks alluded to 
the courfes of the seven planets. He adds, 
that the two veils of the temple, compofed of 
four different materials, were emblematical of 
the four elements ; for, the fine linen, which 
was made of flax> the produce of the earth, 
typified the earth; the purple tinge (ha- 
dowed out the sea, becaufe ftained of that 
colour by the blood of a marine Ihell-filh; 

the 

• Amiq. Judaic, lib. liu cap. 7, and the whole of 



[ m 1 

the deep blue was fymbolical of the cseru- 
lean Iky, or the air ; and the fcarlet is a na- 
tural emblem of fire. He extends the phi- 
lofophical allegory even to the blue and linen 
that compofed the veftment of the high-prieft, 
to the ephod> and the interwoven gold. He 
afferts, that the breaft-plate, placed in the 
middle of that ephod, was typical of the earth 
placed in the centre ; and the zone, or gir- 
dle, which encompaffed the high-prieft, of 
the ocean that furrounded the earth. The 
two fardonyxes on the high-prieft's (houlders, 
he contends, pointed out the sun and moon, 
and the twelve stones imaged out the 
twelve signs of the zodiac* the blue mi- 
tre, decorated with a golden crown, and in- 
fcribed with the awful name of God, was em- 
blematical of heaven itfelf and the Deity who 
redded there.* This account, by a Jewifh 
hiftorian, for which, however in fome re- 
fpeds exaggerated, he had, no doubt, good 
traditional ground to found his affertions 
upon, will not only prove how near even to 
the altar of their God the Hebrew phiiofo- 

phers 

* I have not the honour of being a mason ; but am informed, 
that, in the lodges of that order, many of thefe Jewifh hiero- 
glyphics, that ornamented the temple ere&ed by Solomon, are at 
this day fcrupuloufly preferved. 



[ 224 ] 

phers carried their allufions of this fpeculative 
nature, but will, in fome meafure, juftify my 
calling the Cherubim a sublime astrono- 
mical SYMBOL. 

I have had repeated occafion to obferve, 
that, beford the invention of alphabetical cha- 
racters, knowledge could only be communi- 
cated among mankind through the medium of 
hieroglyphics 5 and this was the folemn, the 
majeftic hieroglyphic, by which the iUmighty 
was pleafed to manifeft to man his attributes 
and properties. The myftic fymbol was firft 
ere£ted, and the holy characters firft engraved, 
on the eaft gate of the garden of Eden, to be 
viewed with reverence and ftudied with devout 
attention by the fallen pofterity of Adam. 
Jofephus, the more effectually to excite re- 
fpeft and veneration for this Hebrew fymbol 
in the minds of his readers, purpofely throws 
over it the veil of obfcurity. He fays, " The 
Cherubim are winged creatures 5 but the form 
of them does not refemble that of any living 
creatures feen by men, although Mofes faid 
he had feen fuch beings near the throne of 
God."* Their figure, however, is accurately 
delineated both by Ezekiel, and in the Apoca- 
lypfe 5 and the meaning of the fymbol itfelf 



• Jofephi Antiq. lib. iii. cap. 6, fe&. S» 



[ 225 J 

is too clear and too pointed to be miftakem 
This grand fimilitude of the triune Deity, 
familiar to all the patriarchs from Adam, 
who gazed upon it with admiration in Para- 

I dife, to Mofes, who trembled before it on 
Mount Sinai, may be confidered as the grand 
prototype of every facred hieroglyphic, by 
which, infucceedingages, mankind fymbolized 

i the Supreme Being, or thofe bafe deities whom 

| they miftock for that Being. It behoves me 
to bring as decifive proof of this affertion as 

i the fubjecl will allow to be brought. Having 
feen, therefore, among the Hebrews, the aw- 
ful fimilitude of God, let- us examine how the 

1 heathens fliadowed him out. Having noticed 
the bull, the lion, and the eagle, of the Mo- 

| faic difpenfation, let us inquire to what parti- 

| cular objefts thofe three archetypal fymbols 
were applied among their pagan neighbours of 

| Afia. 

The reader has been already informed, that 
the firft object of the idolatry of the ancient 
world was the sun. The beauty, the luftre, 
and vivifying warmth, of that planet early 
enticed the human heart from the adoration of 
that Being who formed its glowing fphere and 
| all the hoft of heaven. The fun, however, 
| was not folely adored for its own intrinfic 

P luftre 



[ 226 ] 

iuftre and beauty ; it was probably venerated 
by the devout ancients as the moft magnifi- 
cent emblem of the Shechinah which the 
univerfe afforded. Hence the Perfians, among 
whom the true religion for a long time flou* 
rifhed uncorrupted, according to Dr. Hyde, 
in a paffage before referred to, afferted, that 
the throne of God was feated in the 
Sun. In Egypt, however, under the appel- 
lation of Ofiris, the Sun was not lefs venera- 
ted than, under the denomination of Mithra, 
in Perfia. But all the deities of the ancient 
world were conftantly defignated in their 
temples by fome expreffive fymbol ; and it is 
remarkable, that the fymbols figurative of the 
mo ft illuftrious of thofe deities were the 
facred animals of which the cherubim were 
compofed, and which are reprefented as waft- 
ing, through the expanfe, the effulgence of 
the divine Shechinah. Their admiration of 
this wonderful and myfterious hieroglyphic 
had finally the effed to render the Jews 
themfelves guilty of the groffefl idolatry ; and 
their progreflive defcent through the ftages 
of that nefarious offence merits an attentive 
retrofpeft. 

Impreffed with the deepeft awe and vene- 
ration, by contemplating the glory of Je- 
hovah, 



hovah, while that illuftrious appearance re* 
mained prefent to his view, the pious zeal of 
the Hebrew induced him, when the fimilitude 
of Deity was removed, to endeavour to ani- 
| mate his devotion by an emblematical repre- 
| fentation both of the glory and the cheki/- 
i bim. The original intention, however after- 
| wards perverted, was innocent ; and thedefig- 
! nation of Deity and its revered attributes, 
! however afterwards degraded, were, in the 
\ firft inftance, if not laudable, far from crimU 
; naL But in what adequate manner fhall the 
enraptured fervor of patriarchal devotion re- 
present, when abfent, the ineffable, the eter- 
nal, Shechinah ? A radiated circle of light, 
darting every way a dazzling fplendor, feemed 
the moil proper emblem, and was therefore 
adopted. The defcendant of Ham faw and 
admired the radiant fymbol. Ignorant of the 
real purpofe of the pious defigner, who meant 
to fhadow out a fpirit, not a fubftance, he 
conceived it to be the image of the solar 
orb, which he had long beheld with wonder. 
He fell proftrate and adored it ; and his imi- 
tative pencil drew the firft outline of that 
wonderful and multiform fyftem of hierogly- 
phics, under which were reprefented the ob- 
jects of Egyptian idolatry. We might be 
P 2 juftified, 



[ 228 ] 

juftified, indeed, in tracing, even higher than 
to this remote period, the origin of folar fu- 
perftition, and by the very fame channel. 
Cain, doubtlefs, remembered with anguifh 
the glory of that presence from which, after 
the murder of his brother, he was driven 
with the fierceft denunciations of divine 
wrath. He might poffibly, therefore, inftrufl 
his antediluvian pofterity in this fpecies of 
hieroglyphic idolatry ; for, it is not a little 
remarkable, that the Egyptian Trinity confifts 
of an orb, or globe, fometimes radiated, 
with a wing and a serpent ifluing from it. 
An engraving of it, as taken from the front 
of a molt ancient Egyptian temple, accom- 
panies this volume, and the explanation of 
that curious fymbol will be given in a future 
page. 

To this reprefentation of the Shechinah 
itfelf, to complete the fymbol, the Hebrew 
Patriarch added the illumined heads of the 
facred animals above-defcribed. While fome 
adorned the cherubim with innumerable eyes, 
others covered them all over with wings, 
according to one or the other defcription of 
them in the ancient prophets. Thefe figura- 
tive emblems they fet up in thofe parts of 
their houfes which were peculiarly appro- 
priated 



[ 229 ] 

prlated to the rites of devotion, and in what-* 
ever places, when abfent from the domeftic 
roof, in groves of oaks, or in the facred re- 
cedes of caverns, where they thought the 
Deity might be more fuccefsfully addreffed. 
They called them Teraphim, a word tranflated 
by the Seventy E<J!wA«, reprefentative images, 
like the filver fhrines of Diana ; they con- 
fidered them as the peculiar and hallowed re- 
fidence of the triune Deity ; and, when the 
Hebrew religion began to decline from its 
original purity, they adopted the Pagan man- 
ners, and confulted them as thofe Gentiles did 
their oracular images and inftruments of di- 
vination. In this facred and compound hiero- 
glyphic we difcover of what nature, probably* 
were the domeftic gods which Rachel ftole 
from her father Laban, the lofs of which he 
fo bitterly lamented. f Without going to 
Egypt for a fpecies of idolatry which the 
Egyptians, perverting the primitive fymbol, 
probably obtained from the Hebrew patriarchs, 
to this origin we may trace that fatal error of 
the Ifraelites, in fetting up and worfhipping 

P 3 the 

* I fay probably y becaufe I am aware that the Teraphim 
are, by refpedable authors, and particularly by Calmet, very 
differently defcribed and delineated, 

■f Genefis xxxi. 



[ ] 

the golden calf j the fimilar offence of Jero- 
boam,* and the firft veftige of the Grecian, 
Roman, and, I may alfo add, the Indian, dii 

PENATES. 

Although the Deity was more generally re- 
prefented under the form of an OX, in Egypt, 
than in many other Eaftern nations, fo much 
more fo, that, by degrees, from fymbolizing 
God under that fimilitude, they proceeded to 
the impiety of adoring the animal itfelf, and 
he, in time, became the public idol of their 
temples : yet was the facred bull an objeft 
nearly of as high and peculiar veneration 
both in Perfia and India. One incentive to 
that devotion undoubtedly arofe from the 
affectionate gratitude of the fhepherds of Chal- 
dea, not only for the benefit of the nutritious 
milk which the herd abundantly beftowed, 
but for their great ufe in agriculture. The 
twofold bleffing which that clafs of animals 
thus liberally imparted, in their opinion, ren- 
dered them proper fymbols of the great Pa- 
rent of men, who created all things by his 
nod, and fupports them by his bounty. 
Thus, in Perfia, according to a moft curious 
account taken from the genuine books of the 
Pahsees, by M. Anquetil du Perron, and in- 

ferted 

* 2 Kings, xii. 28, 29. 



[ 231 3 

fcrted in the third volume of his Zend Ayes- 
ta, the Supreme Being was originally fym- 
bolized, adored, and addrefled, under the form 
of a bull; and the reader may there perufe a 
tranflated prayer to the God-bull. It was 
upon this account, according to the fame 
learned and ingenious author, that, when men 
began to worfhip their deceafed anceftors, and 
Noah, the great progenitor of the renovated 
world, came to be numbered firft among thofe 
deified mortals, he was reprefented and ve- 
nerated under a figure compounded of half 
man, half bull, and denominated, in their 
facred writings, f Homme Taureau. The Apis 
of Egypt had, doubtlefs, a fimilar origin. The 
Brahmins of India, who reprefented all the 
operations of nature, as well as thofe of the 
mind, under fignificant fymbols, found out an 
additional caufe for reverencing the bull, and 
numbering that ufefui creature among their 
facred hieroglyphics. That phiiofophic race, 
as deeply engaged in phyfical as metaphyfical 
difquifitions, thought that no mofe proper 
emblem could be found of the great genera- 
tive and prolific power of nature than the 
lordly bull, who, in the pride and vigour of 
his youth, ranges uncontrolled amidft the 
numerous and willing females of the pafture. 

r 4 it 



E! 2 I 

It is, therefore, as we have before had occafion 
to remark, that the bull is the animal which 
Conftantly accompanies Seeva, the god of ge- 
neration and fecundity, who only dejiroys to 
re-produce. In the paintings of fome of the 
pagodas, this animal is portrayed (landing near 
him ; in others he appears mounted upon his 
back. 

The horns on the head of the bull, as is 
evident from the Egyptian Is is and the Gre- 
cian Io, reprefent the rays which light and 
fire emit, the irradiations of celeftial glory; 
and, in confequence, fupreme eminence and 
ftrength. Hence the high altar at Jerufalem 
was decorated with four horns ; hence Mofes 
himfelf, and all the diftinguiihed perfonages 
of antiquity, whether real or mythologic, a3 
well in Egypt as in India, are, in the raoft 
ancient fculptures and paintings, inverted with 
this fymbol. 

The head of the lion, both in Perfia and 
Tartary, was, in a peculiar manner, facred to 
the folar lights the iuperior ftrength, nobility, 
and grandeur, of that animal, in addition to 
what has been remarked before concerning 
his being a diftinguiftied conftellation of the 
zodiac, and the fun fhining forth in his greateft 
fplendor from that fign, rendered him a 

proper 



E 2 33 1 

I ' proper type of the fun, the being they adored, 
blazing in meridian fervor. The majeftic orb 
of his countenance, his glowing eye-balls, 
and fhaggy mane, fpreading in glory around, 
like rays or cluttering fparks of fire, upon the 
i neck, which, like that of the horfe in Job, 
j may be faid to be clothed with thunder, con- 
tributed perhaps in their allegorical fancy to 
give no lefs energy than luftre to the con- 
j ception. In confirmation of what has been 
I juft faid, it may be obferved, that, to this day, 
1 on the imperial ftandard of the Great Mogul, 
of which the reader may fee an engraving in 
Tavernier and Terry's Voyage to India, is 
portrayed the sun rising in glory behind 

! THE BODY OF A RECUMBENT LION j and all 

Arabian voyager, fpeaking of the drefs of the 
Banians, fays, <c Their turbans in particular 
are highly curious, being formed of white 
muflin, and rolled together in fuch a manner 
as to imitate the horns and head of a cow or 
heifer, an animal revered among them even to 
adoration." 

The eagle, that, with its ardent eye, could 
look ftedfallly upon the lblar blaze, and that, 
with its joaring wing, was imagined able to 
| reach it, was a fymbol of the divine nature, 
i holden facred in mofl nations of the Pagan 

world ; 



[ 2 3 4 J 

world ; and, indeed, was in fo peculiar a man- 
ner facred to the fun, that one fpecies of that 
bird is at this day denominated the eagle of 
the sun. Strabo informs us, that, in Egypt, 
the Thebans worfhiped the eagle;* and au- 
thors need not be cited to prove a fact fo well 
known as that, in Greece, the eagle was em- 
phatically called the bird of Jove, which 
bore his thunder, and repofed on the fceptred 
hand of the celeftial king. Wings, however, 
(I do not merely fpeak of thofe of the eagle,) 
were, in ancient Egypt, the univerfal hierogly- 
phic of the winds. Wings of various kinds 
are confpicuoufly engraved near or upon mo ft 
of the facred animal figures that decorate the 
Menfa Ifiaca ; but are feen in a more particu- 
lar manner expanded over the two heifers of 
Ofiris and Ifis.-f- No apter emblem indeed 
could be found to reprefent, in a general way, 
wind, or air, a rapid and reftlefs element, than 
birds, or the wings of birds, gliding impe- 
tuoufly through the expanfe of heaven. Scrip- 
ture itfelf feems to juftity the fimilitude, fmce 
the Almighty is fublimely reprefented as 
walking upon the wings of the wind. But, 
as the courie of birds is various, and as the 

regions 

* Strabcnis Gccgraph. lib. xvii. p. 2. 
f See Menfa Ifiaca, oppofite page 32. 



[ *35 3 

regions in which they delight to refide are 
different, one fpecies of winged fowl denoted 
the quarter from which one wind blew, another 

! from which a fecond, another from which a 
" third; and thefe various hieroglyphic birds are 
engraved on the ancient monuments of Egypt, 
as may be feen on thofe copied thence in the 

! (Edipus iEgyptiacus of Kircher, in Mont- 
faucon, and in Pococke. 

To give one remarkable inftance of what is 
here afferted in regard to that country which 
Holy Writ itfelf, mod decidedly in fupport 
of my argument, has denominated THE 
LAND SHADOWING WITH WINGS. 
Ifaiah xviii. i. The two particular winds 
that moft affe&ed Egypt, were the northerly 
Etefian wind and the fouthern. The latter, 
fpringing up about the fummer folftice, drove 
before it that vaft body of aggregated vapours, 
which, difcharging themfelves in torrents of 
rain upon the high mountains of Ethiopia, 
caufed the waters of the Nile to rife. The 
hawk, therefore, obferving at a particular 
feafon the fame courfe, was confidered as the 
moft natural type of the Etefian wind. That 
propitious wind, on the contrary, which, rifing 
after the inundation, blew from the South, 
and contributed its powerful aid towards the 

draining 



[ 236 ] 

draining off of thofe waters, was as naturally 
reprefented by the whoop, a bird, which, 
watching the fubfiding of the inundation, 
iffues from his retreat in Ethiopia, and, de- 
fending progreffively with the decreafing 
ftream, in its paffage from Memphis to the 
ocean, feeds upon the luxurious repaft which 
Providence has fo kindly provided for it, in 
the numerous race of gnats, flies, and other 
infe&s, which are generated in abundance 
amidft the fat and prolific fllme left by the 
retiring river. 

Of the preceding reflections upon this fa- 
vourite fymbol of the Jews, reflections which 
are neceflarily of a nature fomewhat defultory 
and unconnected, the following is the fum 
and refult. Without laying any improper 
ftrefs upon this Hebrew hieroglyphic as an 
indifputable proof, though it is certainly a very 
ftrons: collateral evidence, of their belief in a 
Trinity, we may fafely allow that the illu- 
minated heads, the innumerable eyes, and the 
extended wings, of the cherubic beings, which, 
in the Jewifh hieroglyphics, ever accompanied 
that refulgent fymbol, were doubtlefs intended 
to reprefent the guardian vigilance of the 
iupreme Providence, as well as the celerity of 
the motions of that celeftial light and fpirit 

which 



t 237 ] 

which pervades and animates all nature. The 
innocent and exprefllve emblem, which devo- 
tion had originally formed, was caught up 
and debafed in the Pagan world. The fire, 
light, and spirit, which, among the for- 
mer, were only typical of the Supreme Being 
and his attributes, were by them miftaken for 
the Supreme Being himfelf, and were accord- 
ingly venerated in the place of that Being. 
Thefe three principles became inextricably in- 
volved in their theology, and infeparably in- 
corporated in all their fyftems of philofophy. 
They called the elementary fire, Pitha, Vul- 
can, Agnee ; the folar light they denominated 
Ofiris, Mithra, Surya, Apollo ; and the per- 
vading air, or fpirit, Cneph, Narayen, Zeus, 
or Jupiter. Under thofe and other names 
they paid them divine homage j and thus, 
having, by degrees, from fome dark ill-under- 
flood notions of a real Trinity in the divine 
nature, united to that myfterious dodhine 
their own romantic fpeculations in the vaft 
field of phyfics, they produced a degraded 
Trinity, the fole fabrication of their fancy ; 
and, inftead of the God of nature, nature 
itfelf, and the various elements of nature, 
became the objects of their blind and in- 
fatuated devotion. 

From 



[ *3« 3 

From this combination of religious fenti- 
ment and facred fymbol, it probably arofe 
that the images of their moft venerated dei- 
ties were reprefented either in fculpture or 
in poetry with three heads, or three fa- 
ces, allufive, as we have exemplified above m 
the Grecian Zsvg, to their office and attri- 
butes. Hence Mercury was called triceps; 
Bacchus/ triambm ; Diana, triformis ; and 
Hecate, tergemina. Thefe two laft epithets 
occur together in the following line of the 
-ffineid : 

Tergeminamque Hecatem, tria virginis ora Diana.* 

Hence the fymbols of all their principal di- 
vinities were of a threefold nature. Jupi- 
ter has his three-forked thunder, Neptune his 
trident, and Pluto his three-headed Cerberus. 
In fhort, it probably arofe from this fource 
that the number three was holden by all anti- 
quity in the moft facred light; and that the 
triangle and the pyramid came to be num- 
bered among their moft frequent and efteemed 
fymbols of Deity. 

This grand hieroglyphic of the Jews was 
either borrowed from their neighbours in 
Afia or they had it from the Hebrew patri- 
archs ; 



* JEndd, b. iv. I. 511. 



[ 239 ] 

archs j and I think it difgraceful to the Jewifh 
church, and derogatory to the God they a- 
dored, that any of the infpired prophets 
fhould take their ideas of Deity and divine 
concerns from the pagan rites of worfhip. 
This is my fole reafon for having dwelt lb 
long upon the fubjedt of the cherubim, as 
portrayed in the vifion of Ezekiel, and as 
fculptured in the temple of Solomon ; and I 
truft, that, with the candid, it will be ef- 
teemed a fufficient reafon. This mode, how- 
ever, of reprefenting the cherubim, in fculp- 
ture, was not univerfally adhered to. Thofe 
which were immediately over the ark were 
naked figures in a human form, whofe expan- 
ded wings, meeting together, at once over- 
shadowed the mercy-feat, and formed a fa- 
cred pavilion for the refidence of that glory 
which is affirmed to have vifibly dwelt be- 
tween them. In this manner, they are deli- 
neated in the authentic volume of Calmet 
and Prideaux, and from them is copied the 
engraving in the next plate. It is of thefe 
figures, in which the human and angelic na- 
ture is fo ftrikingly blended, that Philo fpeaks 
when he declares, Agxw P BV * v Ayc&QonrjTog 
rxv ATEIN AT NAME XI N wm Xep&qi uwi <tju- 



[ 2 4 ] 

€o\ac* " that of the two powers in God* 
principality and goodnefs, tbofe cherubim 
were the fymbols;" and Rabbi Menachem, 
on the Pentateuch, is, in the following ex~ 
tra6t from Allix, afferted to extend the idea 
fomewhat farther, even to the ark itfelf, to 
which they were infeparably united by the 
exprefs command of God to Mofes ; to that 
ark which was a known and acknowledged 
fymbol of Jehovah. " They propofe," fays 
this learned- perfon, <c the image of the two 
cherubim which were drawn from the ark to 
give the idea of the two laft perfons ; for, 
the diftinSion of the cherubim was evident, al- 
though there was an unity of them with the ark. 
In this manner fpeaks Rabbi Menachem, fol. 
lxxiv. col. 3."+ Confidering, therefore, the 
former merely in the light of a noble aftro- 
nomical fymbol, we have, from this rabbi 
and Philo, fufficient evidence that the Jews 
once entertained fimilar conceptions with 
Chriftians, not only of a plurality in the di- 
vine nature, but of a Trinity in Unity, of 
which the cherubim of the ark and the ark 
itfelf were confidered, by fome of their wri- 
ters, as immediate fymbols. Let us now ex- 
tend our view over the countries adjacent to 

Judaea, 

• De Cherubim, p. 86, G. f Affix's Judgement, p. 169, 



[ *4' ] 

Judaea, and inquire what traces of this doc- 
trine exift either in the hieroglyphics or the 
writings of the other pagan nations of the 
E after ti world. The fubjedt is indeed vaft and 
comprehenfive, but will not be unattended 
with utility; and it is intimately conne£led 
with Indian Antiquities. 



ISSERTATION 

ON THE 

PAGAN TRIADS OF DEITY; 

INVESTIGATING TKEIR SOURCE, AND EXPLAINING 
THE SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THEM, 
ON SCULPTURES AND MEDALS, DIFFUSE© 
THROUGH ASIA. 



OSIHIS GUBEKNATOH MlINDI . 



"NirMEN Thu'lkx .Japonic 



A 



DISSERTATION, &c* 



CHAPTER I. 

In the Review of the Pagan Trinities, the Or a- 
cles of Zoroaster, as the mofl ancient 
Relics of Pagan JVifdom and Philofophy, are 
fir ft confidered. — Thofe Oracles contain in- 
ternal Evidence that they are not wholly Spu- 
rious. — The Ajfertion proved, in a Jhort 
Comparifon of the theoretic Syjlem of Theo- 
logy laid down in thofe Oracles, and the prac- 
tical Worjhip of the Chaldceans, Perfans, and 
Indians. — The Three Principles, men- 
tioned in the Zorodjlrian, or Chaldaic, Or a- 
cles, probably the mofl early Corruption of the 
DoElrine of the Hebrew Trinity. — Various 
Paffages of thofe Oracles, intimately correjpond- 

Q.3 in g 



[ 2 4 6 ] 

ing with others in f acred Writ, produced.— 
The philofophical Principles of the old Chal- 
daans and Indians compared. — Their Opi- ' 
nion concerning the Operations of Fire, as 
the primary Element, and their Arrangement 
of the other Elements, confonant with thofe of 
the Brahmins.— Their Belief in the Agency 
of good and evil Demons, of Planets and pla- 
netary Influences, of the fdereal Metempfycho- 
fis through Seven Boohuns, or celeftial Spheres, I 
of a Hell compofed of Serpents, and of the 
powerful Effecl of various Charms and magical 
Incantations, the fame. — The Race, therefore, 
originally the fame, and the Scripture-State- 
ments proportionally confirmed. 

i 

I THINK it neceffary to commence the fol- 
lowing difquifition* concerning the pagan 
Triads of Deity, by again offering it as my 
humble, but decided, opinion, that this ori- 
ginal and fublime dogma, inculcated in the 
true religion, of a Trinity of hypoftafes in 
the divine nature, delivered traditionally down 
from the anceftors of the human race and the 
Hebrew patriarchs, being in time unappre- 
hended, or gradually forgotten, is the foun- 
tain of all the fimilar conceptions in the de- 
bafed fyftems of theology prevailing in every 

other 



f 247 ] 

other region of the earth. Of a doftrine 
thus extenfively diffafed through all nations; 
a doctrine eftabliftied at once in regions fo 
diftant as Japan and Peru ; immemorially ac- 
knowledged throughout the whole extent of 
Egypt and India ; and flourifhing with equal 
vigour amidft the fnowy mountains of Thibet 
and the vaft deferts of Siberia 5 there is no 
other rational mode of explaining the allufion 
or accounting for the origin. Of the hypo- 
thefis, indeed, that affects two principles, 
the caufe can be divined in the blended mix- 
ture of good and of evil that unhappily 
prevails in the dark and chequered fcenes of 
human exiftence ; but, independently of what 
we know from Revelation, there appears to 
be no more moral neceffity that there fhould 
be tbrte, than that there fhould be ten, agents 
in the difpenfations of the divine economy : 
for, with refpedt to the preferring Veefhnu of 
India, and of the mediatorial Mithra, thofe 
fecondary characters are not neceflarily dif- 
tinct from the principals of their refpe&ive 
triads, Oromafdes, or Brahma; fince it is 
furely confiftent with the charaCler of a good 
being to preferve y and nobody wiil be fo 
hardy as to deny that he has power to pre- 
ferve, if he pleafes, without the interference 
I Q 4 of 

I 



f 248 j t 

of any mediator. That there is a Mediator 
in the grand fcheme of the Chriftian theology 
is alone the effect of a predetermined plan, af- 
ferted in Scripture to have been benevolently 
formed in the Almighty mind, of which the 
councils are infcrutable to mortals, but which, 
although they are at prefent infcrutable, may 
poffibly be unfolded to his adoring creatures 
in the ftate of glory promifed to obedient 
piety hereafter. 

I have not hitherto attempted to draw any 
immediate parallel between the religion and 
cuftoms of the Hindoos and the Chaldeans. 
The monuments of Chaldaic worfliip and 
manners, as reprefented in profane writers, 
are too difputable and too fcanty to allow, in 
any extent, of fuch a parallel j and thofe, 
preferved in the Scriptures, are, for the moft 
part, to be found in the occafional digreffions 
that relate to the Hebrews. As the colony 
eftablifhed in Elam, or Perfia, was, doubt- 
lefs, one of the earliefl that emigrated thence, 
in that region we may expect to find, and we 
have found, decided remains of Chaldaic fu- 
perftition, particularly in that general ve- 
neration of fire fo univerfally pra&ifed at 
Ur, in Chaktea, This city, according to 

Bochart, 



[ 249 1 

Bochart,* not only derived its name from a 
word fignifying lux, feu ignis-, but, becaufe 
the pious Abraham refufed to concur in that 
worfliip, it is recorded, by the Jewifli rabbi,*}- 
that he was thrown, at the command of Nim- 
rod, into a fiery furnace ; from which, by 
the miraculous power of Jehovah, that ren- 
dered the furrounding flames innoxious, he 
came out u neon fumed, The fire-temples of 
Chaldaea were called chamanim $ which the 
fame Bochart derives from Chaman, a v/ord 
fignifying to glow with the filar warmth ; which 
plainly indicates the origin of this devotion. 
The Perfians, deeply infe6led with the Chai- 
daic idolatry, afterwards converted the cha- 
manim, or portable (hrines, in which they 
cheriflied the fire lighted by the facred rays 
of the fun, into magnificent pyr^ia, or 
puratheia, many of which remain to this 
day both in Perfia and India. A gentleman, 
who filled with honour a high ftation in In- 
dia, informed me, that, in a famous temple of 
this kind, reforted to by the Perfees in Guz- 
zurat, the priefts boaft to have cheiifhed the 
facred flame, unextinguifhed, for eight hun- 
dred 

* Vide Bocharti Geograph. Sacr. p. 83, edit, quarto, Franciort, 
1681. 

f See Jerom, on Gen. xi. 31, citing the Jewilh traditions. 



[ 1 

dred years, that is, ever fince their expulfion j 
from Iran by the Mohammedan arms. 

The Jews themfelves were by no means 
uninfe&ed by the reigning fuperftition. 
jdh, is the Hebrew word for fire, that moft 
ancient and venerated fymbol of God through- j 
out the Eaft; and they juftify their applying 
that title to the Deity, becauie, in their own 
Scriptures, they read that God is a consu- I 
ming fire. Mffa, among the cabalifts, an- 
fwered to Geburah, or might, the fourth of 
the Sephiroth, and the literal meaning of JE- 
lohim, as the word fhould more properly be 
written, is, the ftrong gods. Hence El, when 
the Jews relapfed into idolatry, became the 
common name of the Sun ; and hence, doubt- 
lefs, through the medium of the Phoenician i 
language, whence the Greek was formed, thofe 
known appellatives of that planet, AeMuog, and 
the Latin Helius. 

There is a very curious ftory, related at 
length in Suidas,* of a conteft for fuperio- i 
rity that took place between this deity of the 
Chaldeans and the Egyptian god Canopus : 
for, according to the Greek author, the an- 
cient Chaldaean priefts ufed to carry about, 
through different regions, their vaunted god, 

to 

* See Suidas, in voce Canopus, 



[ m i 

j to contend with others, worfhipped in the 
neighbouring kingdoms. The gods of gold, 
filver, and bafer metals, were foon reduced to 
j afhes by the ail-conquering fire. But the 
priefts of Canopus, in Egypt, refolved to 
! check the infolence of thofe fire-worfhipping 
] priefts by a difplay of the fuperior power of 
| the deity they adored.- Canopus was no other 
I than the god of water, or, rather, water it- 
j felf perfonified, (an evident proof how early 
and in what place men began to worfhip the 
' various elements of nature,) on which ac- 
count, in the hieroglyphic fculptures of E- 
gypt, he was delineated with a human head 
and arms affixed to an immenfe vafe, or urn, 
richly fculptured, and of which the reader 
will find, in Kircher's third volume, oppofite 
to page 434, a plate containing no lefs than 
16 different engraved repiefentations. The 
god -elements, therefore, were now to en- 
gage in conteft for dominion over the vaffai 
minds of an idolatrous world. The Egyptian 
pontifex contrived to inclcfe the element, the 
objeft of his devoirs, in one of thofe earthen 
veffels, perforated with numerous holes, which 
are at this day ufed in Egypt to filtrate the 
muddy waters of the Nile. Ke carefuily 
flopped thcfe holes with wax 5 then, painting 

over 



[ 252 ] 

over the whole with hieroglyphics, and add- 
ing to the vafe the ufual head and fymbols 
of the deity, fet up his idol, and defied its ri- 
vals. Not at all daunted by the defiance of 
the prieft of Egypt, nor the formidable ap- 
pearance of the aquatic deity, the priefts of 
Chaldasa immediately placed their omnipotent 
fire beneath the ample vafe, which in a fnort 
time diffolving the wax, the inclofed element 
ruflied out in torrents, extinguifhed the flame, 
and thus, to exprefs myfelf in their own my- 
thological manner of writing, gained a com- 
plete vi&ory over the radiant progeny of the 
sun. — The reader will eafily be induced to 
pardon this digreffion, which is not to- 
tally foreign to the fubjed: under confedera- 
tion, fince it points out the origin and gra- 
dual progrefs of that two-fold idolatry which 
formerly overfpread the Eaft, and both of 
which, or fomething very much like them, 
have been fo long predominant in Hindoftan * 
for, that the Indians worfliip the fun and 
fire has been demonftrated ; and they pay a 
homage fcarcely inferior to their confecrated 
rivers. Indeed, I have a print of the Ganges 
perfonified, which, though a female, in the 
features of its face, is not unlike the moft 
comely of the figures of Canopus, exhibited 

by 



[ 253 ] 

by Kircher. But let us return to the fubje& 
of the firft appearance of the Hebrew doc- 
trine of the Trinity in the Gentile world. 

The earlieft dawn of it in Pagan Asia 
is to be found in the oracles of the Perfian 
Zoroafter, I mean the original Zoroafter, 
that obfcure charadter in remote antiquity to 
whom thofe characters are generally referred, 
and not that Zoroafter, or Zerduftit, who 
was only the reformer of the Magian fuper- 
ftition, and flourished at a much later pe- 
riod. 

I have obferved, in a former page of this 
Differtation, that, among many difcordant 
opinions, there were two more generally pre- 
valent in antiquity concerning that venerable, 
but myfterious, perfonage. The firft-men- 
tioned was, that he was king of Ba6lria, 
and flain by Ninus; the feconcl, that he was 
a native of Perfia, and flourif hed in the days 
of Darius Hyftafpes. There is no point, 
however, concerning which th<5 raoft celebra- 
ted writers are more divided. The whole is 
veiled in impenetrable obfcuriiry. The diffi- 
culty has been attempted to be folved, by 
fuppofing, that there exifted, at various pe- 
riods, feveral peifons eminent for wifdom, 
who affumed that name, or to '.whom, as was 

an 



[ 254 ] 

an ufual cuftom in the ancient world, his 
zealous and affectionate difciples applied that 
illuftrious appellative. I have alio pointed 
out, in the courfe of this Differtation, fome 
very ftriking -.- circumftances of fimilarity in 
the refpedtive dodtrines which the Indian and 
Perfian legiflator inculcated, and have even 
ventured to hazard a conje&ure that the more 
ancient Zoroafter, and Belus, the founder of 
the Indian empire, were the fame perfon, 
under two different appellations. It is a fact* 
however, which cannot be fhaken, that, in 
thofe primitive ages, mankind acknowledged 
and venerated in one perfon the facerdotal, 
the regal, and the paternal, character. An 
inftance of this fort remains at this day in 
the grand Lama of Thibet, who not only 
unites in his own perfon the regal and facer- 
dotal character, bat one fomewhat more ex- 
alted, fince he is regarded by his fubjedts in a 
light in which the grateful and affectionate 
race, who were the immediate defcendants of 
Noah, regarded that patriarch, and by that 
means fovved in the renovated world the fir ft 
feeds of idolatry \ he is venerated as a deity. 
Stanley derives the term Zoroaster from the 
Hebrew Sckur, whence the Chaldee Zor was 
formed, figntfying to contemplate, and is* 

THER, 



I 255 ] 

Ther, a Perfian word, fignifying a ftar, 
! whence probably the Greek a&gw*. Allow- 
ing this derivation to be juft, we find in Zo- 
roafter the great Baal, or Belus, who, Plinyj- 
Informs us, was the inventor of aftronomy in 
Chaldsea, and poffibly, as I fhall hereafter en- 
deavour to prove, the fame perfonage vene- 
rated in India under the renowned Hindoo 
appellative of Bali. The old Scripture-name 
of the Chaldaeans, which is Chufdim, leads us 
dire&ly to the perlbn of the real Zoroafter, 
and much corroborates this opinion, either 
that Chus himfelf, or his fon Belus, was in 
I reality the perfonage on whom antiquity has? 
beftowed that celebrated name. Belus, being 
the grandfon of the arch-apoftate Ham, was 
moft likely to be the firft corrupter of this 
pure dodtrine. We accordingly find the ear- 
lieft attempt to philofophife (that is, to de- 
prave by human wifdom) this do&rine, fo 
much fublimer than the fublimeft metaphy- 
fics, in the oracles afcribed to that legiilator, 
which are juftly fuppofed to be the genuine 
fource of both the Perfian and Egyptian, and 

confequentty 

* Vide Stanley's Chaldaic Philofophy, p.z; and Bochart's 
f Geograph. Sacr. lib. i. cap. 1. 

I 

f Belus inventor fuit fideralis fcientiac. Plinii Nat. Hifl. lib. i. 
cap. 26. 



C 256 3 

confequently of the Greek, theology. Who- 
foever of the ancient poftdiluvian fages he 
might have been, the name, as thus derived, 
Is exceedingly applicable, fince both the na- 
tions, over whom Brahma, or Rama, and 
Zoro'after were legiflators, have, next to the 
Chaldeans, ever been confidered as the moft 
early cultivators of ^aftronomy in Afia, and 
efpeeially the latter, who will be proved here- 
after to have carried that fcience to a point of 
aftonifhing improvement, and far beyond that 
to which it ever attained in Egypt. I am not 
ignorant that the whole of thefe oracles have 
been afferted to be a grofs forgery of fome 
Pfendo-Chriftian Greek ; but, as they are 
found interfperfed, in detached fentences, 
throughout the writings of the early Greek 
philofophers, that objection, at leaft in re- 
gard to the whole of them, muft fall to the 
ground ; and they probably are, what Stanley 
feerns to be perfuaded they are, and what 
their dark myfterious doflrines feem to evince, 
the genuine remains of the Chaldaic theology j 
that theology, which, according to Proclus, 
35 cited by the fame writer, was revealed to 
the Patriarchs by the awful voice of the Deity 
himfetf. 

It 



[ 257 1 

It would, indeed, be abfurd to deny that 
there are, intermixed with the genuine ora- 
cles of Zoroafter, fome fpurious paflages and 
many dogmas of the more recent Greek phi- 
lofophers § bat, in many of the precepts con- 
tained in them, there appear, as I have juft 
aflerted, fuch evident marks of a certain ob- 
fcure and myfterious kind of hieroglyphical 
theology as prove them to be the production 
of the ancient fchool of Chaldsea ; of that 
grand theological fchool in which the Me- 
tempfychofis was firft divulged ; in which the 
fidereal ladder and gates were firft ere&edj 
and in which that fubtle, luminous, pthereal, 
all-penetrating, all-enlivening, flame, which 
gives elafticity and vigour to the various parts 
of the animated univerfe, from its profoundeft 
centre to the mod extended line of its cir- 
cumference, was firft, from intenfe admira- 
tion of its aftonifhing properties, adored as a 
divinity. According to the authors cited both 
by Kircher and Stanley, they were originally 
written in the old Chaldaic language, and 
tranflatcd into Greek either by Berofus, Ju- 
lian the philofopher, or Hermippus ; and they 
have defcended to pofterity only in detached 
pieces j which, I have cblerved before, is a 
cogent argument in favour of their origina- 

R lity. 



[ 2 5 8 ] 

lity. What remains to us of the writings of 
Hermes is ftrongly tin£hired with the Zo- 
roaftrian philofophy. Plato and Pythagoras, 
in their vifits to the Perfians at Babylon, 
drank deep at this primeval fountain - 7 and 
their writings, alfo, thus infected with the j 
philofophy of Zoroafter, contributed to fpread | 
the phyfical and theological doctrines of Chal- , | 
dsea widely through Greece. The whole of 
thefe oracles are given by Stanley, according \ 
to the more efteemed edition of Patricius, 
with the notes of Pletho and Pfellus and to ] 
his page I mult refer the reader for the ex- j | 
tradls that follow. 

What the writer of thefe oracles, whofoever | 
he was, could poffibly mean by the lingular 
expreffions that occur throughout the whole 
of the firft feftion, except to fhadow out the 
myftery of the Trinity in Unity, a myftery, 
after all, but partially underftood by him, it | 
is difficult to conceive ; fince, exclufive of the 
error of placing principles for hypostases, 
which was natural enough to an unenlight- 
ened Pagan, it is impoffible for language to be j 
more explicit upon the fubjeft of a divine 
Triad, or more conformable to the language 
of Chriftian theologers. 




[ 259 ] 

TocvctYi igi pova,g y jj $vo yzvvx. 

: cc Where the paternal monad is, that pa* 
ternal Monad amplifies itfelf, and generates 
a Duality/' The word 7rccr^xv> or paternal, 
here at once difcovers to us the two firft hy- 
I poftafes, fmce it is a relative term, and plainly 
j indicates a son. The paternal Monad produces 
| a duality, not by an aft of creation, but by 
! generation, which is exadlly confonant to the 
language of Chriftianity. After declaring that 
the Duad, thus generated, itudyrou, Jits by the 
1 Monad 5 and, fhining forth with intellectual 
beams, governs all things 5 that remarkable and 
often-cited pafTage occurs : 

TlctVTi yzg iv KOTpu Xx^Trei Tgiccg, 
*Hg fzovccg 

€i For, a Triad of Deity shines forth 

THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD, OF WHICH 

a monad is the head $" that is, all created 
things bear imprefTed the feal of the great 
triune God. In a fucceeding verfe of this 
fedtion we are informed : 

\ Eig rgia, yctg vug mm Uocr^og -npveirQui kttmtcc, 
Ou to 8s\siv KctTevsvce, sccci $y ttccvtm eTBTpyTO. , 

R 2 « For, 



[ 260 ] 

" For, the mind of the Father faid that all 
things fhould be divided into three; whofe 
will affented, and all things were divided." 
The fentence is obfcure ; but the meaning of 
the former part of it feems to be that all 
things are under the government of a divine 
Triad ; and the latter part exhibits a ftriking 
parallel to the words of that divine Aofw, 
who faid, Let there be light; and there was light: 
of him who /pake, and it was done who com- 
manded, and it flood jafl. Immediately after 
follows a paffage, in which the three Perfons 
in the divine eflence are expreffiy pointed out 
by appellations, under which we inftantly 
recognife the three fuperior Sephiroth of the 
Hebrews : 

Kcti e£avr,cnzv Iv ocvtyi y r 'AgETif, 
Kcci y £s<£i#, kcci 7ro\u<pcuv 'Atcbksicc* 

rc And there appeared in this Triad, Virtue, 
and Wisdom, and Truth, that know all 
things." Though thefe three hypoftafes are 
afterwards ftyled principles, and though, in 
this refpe£t, the Chaldaic philofophy appears 
to blend itfelf with the Chaldaic theology, 
the firft Sephiroth, or Kether, the Crown, 
is doubtlefs alluded to by 'Aczrr l9 or Virtue: the 
fecond appellation is Hill more remarkable; 



! [ 26i ] 

I for, of the Cochma of the Hebrews, 
! or Wifdom, may be termed an exad and 
! literal tranaation. Nor is the fimilitude at all 
j lefs impreffive in the appellation of the third 
i of thefe principles, (as Zoroafter miftakenly 
denominates them,) for, of the heavenly 
Bin ah, or Intelligence, can language convey 
j any more accurate conception than is to be 
! met with in the word ttoXv^uv 'At^skziu, midtt- 
i fcia Veritas, the Spirit of Truth, full of ce- 
jeftial wifdom, that omnifcient Spirit who 
trieth the reins and fearcheth the hearts of 
the children of men ? That thefe three hy- 
' poftafes, or perfons, are in the latter part of 
this fe&ion denominated principles, is not a 
little Angular ; and, at all events, it is a mode 
of expreffion very inconfiftent with what pre- 
vioufly occurred concerning the relation which 
the name of fan bears to father, and with the 
term of generation by which the Duad were 
faid to have been produced, 

Singular, however, as this conduct may ap- 
pear, it is not inconfiftent with other grols 
errors of the idolatrous fons of Chaldaea. 
Though that infatuated race had traditionally 
received from their pious anceftors that firit 
fublime principle of religion, that there pre- 
fided over the univerfe an infinite Omnipotent 
R 3 God, 



[ 262 ] 

God, who was a spirit, and to be worfhipped 
in fpirit and in truth, they had forgotten the 
Deity himfelf in the darling objeft of their 
veneration, the adorable flame, before which 
they inceflantly bowed the fervile knee. If 
they could thus early and fatally forget the 
great Creator of all things, and worfhip, in 
the place of him, one of the elements, formed 
by his power ; is it a fubjecl of wonder that 
there fhould have been alike obliterated from 
their minds all remembrance of that awful 
myflery at the fame time revealed, that diftinc- 
tion in his nature which we denominate Tri- 
nity of perfons ? or that, only faintly remem- 
bering the awful truth, they fhould finally in- 
fult the holy hypoftafes by the degrading ap- 
pellation* of principles ? The very inftitution 
of divine rites in honour of their bafe idol, 
the fubftitute of Deity, proved the prior ex- 
iftence of a purer worfhip in their country; 
and the very number and name of their imagined 
principles demonftrated that, in remote pe- 
riods, incenfe to a nobler Triad had burned 
on their adulterated altars. 

It is unneceflary to fwell thefe pages with 
many additional extracts, corroborative of my 
aflertions from thefe e IEPA AOriA, or holy 
oracles, as in his treatife De Infomniis they 

are 



t 263 ] 

are termed by Synefius, a writer who flou- 
rished about the year 400, and which cir- 
fiumftance is a convincing proof in how vene- 
rable a light thefe ancient fragments were 
holden even in that early period of Chriftianity; 
but there remain a few others too remarkable 
and too decinve to be wholly omitted. In the 
very next feftion of thefe oracles, remarkable 
I or its fingular title of nATHP NOTE, or 
the Father and the Mind, that Father is 
exprehly faid «« to perfect all things, and de- 
liver them over to N« <W f?> " the second 
Mind ; which, as I have obferved in the early 
pages of this Differtation, has been confidered 
as allufive to the character of the mediatorial 
and all-preferving Mithra; but could only origi- 
nate in theological conceptions of a purer na- 
ture, and be defcriptive of the office and charac- 
ter of a higher Mediator, even the eternal 
AOrO?. The whole of the paflage runs thus : 

y«o '&M**m nATHP, **» Nil itt^Mm 
AETTEP.fl, ov irqaroii KX***|iftM km ?&°S avSfav. 

"That second Mind," it is added, "whom 
the nations of men commonly take for the 
first." This is, doubtlefs, very ftrongly in 
favour of the two fuperior Perfons in the 
R 4 Trinity. 



[ 264 } 

Trinity. Chriftians, indeed, are taught to 
confider the fecond hypoftafis as the more 
immediate A^t^yo^ or celeftial architect of 
the worldj yet it muft ftill be owned, that, in 
the three firft verfes of Genefis, creation is 
reprefented as the work of the collective Tri- 
nity. Overlooking and correcting the miftake 
of affigning to the firft hypoftafis the opera-, 
tions that more peculiarly belong to the fe- 
cond, we fhall find this paffage of the Zo- 
roaftrian oracles exceedingly conformable to 
the language of Holy Writ itfelf ; for, it is 
there faid, by the Word of the Lord the 
heavens were made, and all the hoft of them by 
the Spirit of his mouth. Pfalms, xxxiii. 6. 
And the Logos himfelf authoritatively de- 
clares, All power is given unto me both in 
heaven and in earth. Matth. xxvii. 18. 

In the third feclion of the Chaldaic oracles, 
as arranged by Patricius, in which, and that 
immediately following, a ftill wider range is 
taken in the phyfical and intellectual world, 
and where we find the primordial fource of 
thofe fpeculative notions, which, probably, 
formed the bafts of the Pythagorean and Pla- 
tonic philofophy, it is obferved, with fingular 
conformity to this Hebrew doclnne of a cer- 
tain plurality .exifting in the divine effence : 



t 265 3 

i t( Tito Svosv vouv f\ ^cooyovog itv{yv\ ^eote^Brai $v%av % 
I Koi o 7roiv}TV}<;> og, avrvoyav, t^t^v tx.ro xoa-pov, 
\ *Og voog InQogs TT^urog. 

! 41 Under two Minds is contained the life- 
generating fountain of fouls ; and the ar- 

| tificeRj who, felf-operating, formed the 
world ; he who fprang firft out of that Mind." 
In this paffage, by the former of the Minds is 
decidedly pointed out the great AvroQtog, the 
eternal fpring and fountain of the Godhead ; 
by the fecond, the creative Logos, who is an 
emanation from that fountain ; the fame 
Logos whom St. John fays, was in the be- 
ginning with God that Word, by whom all 
things were made j and without whom was not 
any thing made that was made. John i. I. 

The following paffage, cited by Proclus 
from thefe oracles, is not lefs indubitably de- 
ceive, in regard to the third facred hypoftafis, 
than the preceding paflages are in regard to 
the two fecond : 

Mercs Se 'TrxTignag Aiavoiocg lyco vxia^ 

Bzcpyji i]/v%v<rx roc ttdlvtol* 

That is, £C in order next to the paternal mind, 
I, Psyche, dwell; warm, animating ail 

things/' 



t 266 ] 

things." — Thus, after obferving, in the firft 
i*e£tion, the Triad, or to QbTov, the whole 
Godhead collectively difplayed, we here have 
each diftin<5t hypoftafis feparately and clearly 
brought before our view. That the perfons 
themi elves are fometimes confounded and their 
refpedtive functions miftaken by unenlighten- 
ed Pagans, Chriftians, who are in poffeffion 
of this do£irine by a renewal of divine revela- 
tion, ought not to be ftruck with wonder, but 
penetrated by benevolent pity. 

Since the philofophy of the Chaldaeans was 
fo intimately blended, or rather incorporated, 
together with their theology, this will be a 
proper place to confider the great outlines of 
that philofophy ; and I muft again urge as my 
apology, for entering thus largely into the 
inveftigation of it, the ftriking fimilitude 
which its ruling features bear to that fpecies 
of phyfical theology promulged in the facred 
Sanfcreet writings of India. The moft pro- 
minent of thofe features difplays itfelf in the 
following pafTage : 

Tlocvjot IirPO£ e ENO£ IxyByuuT*. 
All things are the offspring of one fire. 

Let us inveftigate the origin, the progrefs, 
and the diffufion, of the firft grand fuperfti- 

tion, 



[ *6 7 J 

tion, which led to that fo largely defcanted 
upon in a former part of this work, and 
therefore not here neceflary to be refumed, 
the worfhip of the orbs of heaven, which they 
imagined to have been themfelves compofed 

Ot jETHERIAL FIRE. 

The patriarchs, who dwelt in Chaldaea, 
held fire in profound, though not in ido- 
latrous, veneration ; becaufe, like their an- 
cient neighbours of Perfia and India, they 
thought it the nobleft image and fymboi 
of God in nature. Their extenfive {pecula- 
tions in phyfics, alfo, increafed that venera- 
tion : they confidered it as an immediate ema- 
nation from God; they knew that it was the 
grand agent, under the Deity, in all the opera- 
tions of nature. When fenfible objects and 
fecondary caufes became, in the philofophy o£ 
fucceeding ages, the more immediate object 
of minute inveftigation, the Great first 
Cause of all, being an object more diflantly 
remote from thought, was by degrees neglect- 
ed, and the worfhip of Himfelf, as was too 
ufual in the ancient world, was tranfeqred 
to the fymboi that reprefented him. After 
this all-pervading fire, their philofophy Jed 
the Chaldaeans to place next in order that 
.finer, fubtle, and luminous, fluid, which they 

denominated 



[ 268 ] 

denominated the supramundane light, in 
which the heavenly bodies floated. This fluid 
they efteemed far lefs grofs than the air which 
fonounds the globe, and this, in India, is 
called the Akass. By the Akass, as my 
account of the Cofmogony of Hindoftan will 
hereafter acquaint the reader, the Indians 
mean t£ a kind of celeftial element, pure, im- 
palpable, unrefifting, and refemMmg the air 
rarefied into aether of the Stoic philosophers." 
Next to the fupramundane light, ranks the 
empyr^umj and, neareft the earth, the grofler 
sther, which is ftill denominated a kind of 
fire, TTup l[myQvm % a life-generating fire, of 
which are formed the orbs of the fun and 
planets, Of the firft aetherial light, or fire, 
which emanates from God himfelf, are com- 
pofed the eternal Monad, and all the various 
orders of fubordinate deities, gavxiot %xt u^vvdf, 
that is, thofe who exert their influence and 
operations about the zones of heaven ; created 
intelligent angels * good daemons ; and the 
fouls of men, All thefe orders, the orders of 
light and immateriality, are under the govern- 
ment and direction of Ormuzd, the god of 
light and benevolence. But, as there are orders 
of luminous and immaterial brings ; fo there 
are thofe alio of darknefs and materiality: 

thefe 



E 269 ] 

thefe confift of evil daemons, and they are fix 
I .in number. The firft of them inhabit the 
regions more immediately fubl unary ; the fe- 
cond, the regions nearer the earth ; dark, 
ftormy, and full of vapours : the third are 
thofe malignant and unclean fpirits that range 
the earth : -the fourth inhabit the depths of 
waters, and agitate with ftorms and whirl- 
winds the gloomy abyfs of the ocean: the 
fifth are fubterranecus, and delight to dwell 
in caverns and charnel- vaults ; thefe excite 
earthquakes, and :other internal convulfions 
in the bowels of the haraffed globe: the 
fixth, lucifugous, and, hardly fenfibje of ani- 
mation, or capable of motion, roam through 
the profundities of darknefs, and hold their 
reign, as it were, in the very centre and bofom 
of chaos i all thefe obey Abrimam as their 
fupreme lord and captain. The whole of this 
hypothefis may be found in India; and a part 
of it has bben already unfolded. There, on 
the one hand, we fee the benevolent fpirits 
the offspring of light; the Soors, poffibly fo 
called from Surya, the Sun, headed by Brahma 
or Veeflmu, ifiuing from the empyrseum, or 
inferior heaven of Eendra, and animated by 
affection, or melted with pity, watching over, 
preferving, and protecting, the human race : 

on 



[ 2 7 1 

on the other hand, we obferve the dreadful 
army of the Aflbors, thofe dark and perturbed 
fpirits who tenant the dreary regions of the 
North pole, drawn up in terrible array un- 
der the Mahaffcor, or Lucifer of India, me- 
ditating the moleftation and deft ruction of 
the human race, and fhowering down upon, 
them defolation and plagues. Other grand 
points of fimiiitude or fentiment, exifting 
between the two nations in phyfics and phi- 
lofophy, will be confidered at large in my 
chapter relative to the literature of Hindoftan : 
for the prefent, I fhall only notice a few of 
them that are the moft remarkable: 

That is, " the Father hath congregated 
feven firmaments of worlds by which worlds 
are, doubtlefs, to be underflood the feven 
planets, or boobuns, as they are called in 
India. Afterwards, exactly in the ftyle of 
thofe who thought the flars were animated 
beings, who called them by the name of 
different animals, and who thus defignated 
them in their hieroglyphic fculptures, he is 
faid to have <c conftituted a feptenary of er- 
ratic ANIMALS;" 

Both 



[ 2 7 T I 

Both thefe extracts are cited only as intra- 
! ductory to a paffage in a following fection, 
1 where we find at laft the original idea of the 
| ladder with the feven gates ; whence poffibly 
Celfus had his Angular notions concerning 
that curious fymbol, ere&ed in the Mithratic 
cavern : 

Mf} kcltm vevcyg* %^vog Kara yv\g u^amirm^ 
YsTTTOLntQ^ cvguv TCccTcc fiaQpiSog* qv V7T0 Ssivqg 
'O d^ovog Ig-iv X&wyKW* 

" Stoop not down ; for, a precipice lies 
below on the earth, drawing through the lad- 
I der with seven steps; beneath which is the 
throne of dreadful Necessity/' 

It may fairly be prefumed, that, arguing 
from analogy, and from what we now know 
concerning the fidereal ladder, two additional 
fymbols, probably ufed in the cave of Mithra, 
difcover themfelves in this paffage. The deep 
gulph, or precipice, (that is, the inferior 
hemifphere, or Tartarus, of the ancients,) 
which yawned at the foot, and down which 
the foul that could not rife to the more 
elevated fpheres of virtue on the erefted ladder, 
or that relinquifhed its vigorous efforts to 
afcend up to them, rapidly plunged ; and the 
throne of Necessity, (that Necessity 

which » 



[ 272 I 

which, we know, was the bafis of all Pagan 
theology,) demonftrating that the progreiTive 
ftages of the Metempfychofis muft ahfolutely 
be toiled through, before the higheft fphere of 
happinefs, the supreme abode of the Indian 
Brahmins, could be reached. 

However difputable may be the point, who 
was the real author of the venerable maxims 
laid down in thefe Chaldaic oracles; I>muft 
again repeat, that they appear to me indis- 
putably to contain many fundamental princi- 
ples both of the Perfian and Indian fyftems of 
theology and philofophy. Subftantial proof 
of this aflertion may poffibly be admitted as 
decifive evidence in favour of the genuineness 
of, at leaft, that portion of them in which 
thofe principles difplay themfelves. Before, 
therefore, I lhall proceed to exhibit the ftrong 
traits of a Trinity which fo diftinftly appear 
in thofe venerable fragments of antiquity, 
preferved to us in the page of the Egyptian 
Hermes, and in the hvmns attributed to the 
Grecian Orpheus, perfonages fcarcely lefs ob- 
fcure than Zoroafter himfelf, it is my inten- 
tion to point out a few additional inftances in 
which the features of that fimilarity appear 
ftiil more prominent and unequivocal. 

The - 



[ 273 ] 

The mod remarkable one, next to the ado- 
ration of fire and the heavenly orbs, 
and the belief in good and malignant 
demons, already amply unfolded, is the doc- 
trine of the Metempsychosis, which fpread 
from Chaldsea to Perfia and India j for, that 
the Perfians, as well as the Indians, actually 
believed in the tranfmigration of the human, 
foul, is proved by the evidence brought from 
Porphyry in a preceding page, and by the 
following fhort pafTage in Dr. Hyde : Decre- 
tum enim apud primos habetur de animarum in 
diver/a corpora tranfrnigratione, id quod etiarrt 
in MiTHRiE my [I eriis videtur fignificari . * The 
Metempfychofis is there unfolded in thefe 
terms, which, however obfcure themfelves, 
are by the context evidently demonftrated to 
allude to it : 

Alfa (TV ^'J^Yj; 0%£T0V 3 oQsV 9 7\ TiVi TOt%St. 

AvSig ocVat£ i 7fG m 6ig m hf>m Xoyoo if>yw ivcotrctg* 

cc Explore thou the tract of the soul ;«f- 
whence and by what orde'r it came. Having 
performed thy fervice to the body, to the 

S fame 

* Ds Hift. Religionis vet. Perf. p. 254. 

t tvj&s hytrh, the candy or 'vehicle, through which the- 
migrating foul glides. 



[ 2 74 1 

fame order from which thou didft flow, thou 
muft return again, joining aftion to facred 
fpeech." 

In an epifode of the Mahabbar at, Creefli- 
na, an incarnation of the Deity, is reprefented 
as thus addreffing Arjun : " Both I and thou 
have paffed many births : mine are known 
to me, but thou knoweft not of thine." 
Bhagvat Geeta, p. 51. t£ At the end of time, 
he, who having abandoned his mortal 
frame, departeth, thinking only of me, with- 
out doubt goeth unto me ; or elfe, whatever 
other nature he (hail call upon, at the end 
of life, when he lhall quit his mortal ftape, 
he fhall ever go unto it. Wherefore, at all 
times, think of me alone." P. 74. Pletho, 
in explaining the paffage in the oracles above- 
cited, obferves, that, by facred fpeech, is meant 
invocation of the Deity by divine worOiip, 
and that, by atfion, divine rites are fignified. 
In the fame Geeta, we read that the Deity 
calls thofe who defpife him iC into the wombs 
of evil fpirits and unclean beasts." Geeta, 
1 17. In the Zoroaftrian oracles we find ideas 
exa£lly fimilar : 



« For, 



[ 275 1 

lc For, THY VESSEL the BEASTS OF THE EARTH 

ihall inhabit." 

Concerning this dodtrine of the Metempfy- 
chofis, however ample has been the preceding 
account, there ftill remains a vaft and won- 
derful field for inquiry and fpeculation. It is 
undoubted of moft ancient date in Afia, and 
we have feen it plainly revealed in the Geeta, 
an Indian compofition fuppofed to be four 
thoufand years old. The anceftors of the He- 
brews, however, were not without fome con- 
ceptions of this kind, as is evident from what 
M. Bafnage relates of fome rabbies explaining, 
by the do&rine of the tranfmigration of fouls, 
that menace to Adam in Genefis : Duji thou 
art, and unto dufi Jhalt thou return! that is, fay 
they, thou (halt return to animate another 
body formed of kindred duji. It is very re- 
markable too, that their great and ancient pa- 
raphraft Jonathan, in his commentary on the 
following paffage in Ifaiah, xxii. 14, Surely 
this iniquity Jhall not be purged from you till ye 
die, faith the Lord God of Ho/Is, explains this 
purgation, or purification of the foul, in nearly 
the fame manner as it is explained in the 
Geeta, by morte fecundd, a fecond death.* 
S 2 « By 

• See Jonathan's Targum, in Walton's Polyglot, torn. iii. 



[ 27 6 ] 

« By this fecond death {fays M. Bafnage) is 
not meant hell, but that which happens 
when a foul has a fecond time animated a 
body, and then departs from it."* The fame 
■fentiments, he adds, are found in the book 
Zohar, and in Philo. 

It may gratify curiofity, to purfue fome- 
what farther the parallel opinions of the 
Hebrews and Hindoos on this curious fub- 
ject. 

The canal, or vehicle, mentioned above, 
through which the foul glides from one order 
of being into another, will probably bring to 
the recolkaion of the Hebrew ftudent the 
imagined canals by which the influences of the 
fplendors of the Sephiroth are united, and 
through which they flow into one another. The 
Hindoos have invented, as we have often re- 
lated before, feven inferior fpheres of purga- 
tion and purification, through which the foul, 
polluted by guilt, is doomed to pafs after its 
exit from this earthly tabernacle : and feven 
fuperior fpheres for pure and beatified fpirits, 
all containing various degrees of increafing 
happinefs. The rabbies alfo, according to 
M. Bafnage, believe in a gradation of pumfh- 
rffenls. and enjoyments in the other world. 

They 

« SecBafnage 1 '! Hiftory of the Jews, p. 386. 



[ 277 ] 

They fay there are seven hells,* becaufe 
they find, in Scripture, hell mentioned under 
/even different appellations. Their hell, too, 
like that of the poets, confifts in the fufferers 
alternately enduring the extremes of heat and 
cold, exa&ly as Virgil defcribes it : 

Aliis, /ubgurgite vafto, 
Jn/eBum eluitur /celus, aut exuritur ignu 

Or, as our greater Milton ; 

From beds of raging fire, in ice to ftarve 
Their foft setherial warmth. 

We have before remarked that the Hindoo 
hell, orNaraka, confifts oi /erpents, probably 
allufive to the corrofive gnawings of that worm 
which never dieth. But, as the Hebrews had 
feven hells, fo had they likewife feven heavens ; 
or, rather, they divided the celeftial Eden into 
feven apartments, the raptures enjoyed in 
which were proportioned to the merits and 
capacity of the liberated foul. Here they affert, 
as in the paradife of Eendra, that the foul 
fhall diftolve in an influx of celeftial pleafures; 
and it is very remarkable, that, in the imagined 
S 3 Elyfmm 



* Eafnage, p. 589. 



[ 2 7 8 ] 

Elyfium of the rabbies, as in that of Eendra 
and Mohammed, fenfual pleafures are by no 
means to be excluded, Maimonides gives a 
moft luxuriant defcription of this beautiful 
and magnificent abode, The houfes he repre- 
fents as entirely conftructed of precious ftones, 
after the fame manner as the heavenly city is 
defcribed by St. John in the Revelations: a 
proof that either Maimonides had feen the 
Apocalypfe, or that the defcriptions of both 
were regulated by fome very ancient traditions. 
The rivers of that celeftial Jerufalem flow with 
wine ; the air is fragrant with perfumes ; and 
all care and forrow are annihilated. As the 
foul is to enjoy all kinds of moft refined fpi- I 
ritual delights, fo is the body, according 
both to Rabbies Mcnaffe and Abarbanel, to 
enjoy pleafures fuited to its nature : for, why, 
fay thofe rabbies, fhould bodies rife again, if 
they were not to aft over again the fame 
things, and be engaged in fimilar employments 
to thofe in which they were occupied when 
exifting in this terreftrial fcene ? Every fenfe, 
therefore, is to be amply and completely gra- 
tified; but the gratification is to be more refined, 
like that of Adam in innocence, for whom 
God made a body before the fallj and God 
makes nothing in vain, nor beftows the means, 

without 



[ 279 3 

without the power, of fruition. Therefore 
the moft delicious banquets are to be prepared 
for the bleffed ; the pleafures of the nuptial 
ftate are to be realized in heaven, and celeftial 
children to fpring from the chafte embrace * ^ 
It is plain that the Jews, in our Saviour's 
time, indulged fome notions of this kind, 
when, fpeaking of the woman who had been 
married to feven brothers, they a{ked him, 
Whofe wife fhall foe be in the refurrecTioni 
and the reply of Chrift, that, in the refurrec- 
tion, they neither marry nor are given in mar- 
riage, ought to have taught them, as well as 
the modern feci: of Swedenburg, the falfehood 
and abfurdity of the degrading conceptions 
entertained by them concerning the nature of 
the joys of another life. We read in Scripture 
of the tranflation of Enoch and Elijah, and of 
the bofom of Abraham; while the anfwer of 
our Saviour to the thief on the crofs, his 
affertion that in his Father's houfe there are 
many manfiom, and that in St. Paul of a third 
heaven, of the heaven of heavens, and of one 
ftar differing from another ftar in glory, afford 
fubftantial proof that fome diftin&ion in thofe 
regions, and in the ftate of thofe who inhabit 
them, will doubtlefs be madej but what thofe 
S 4 diftin&ions 

• Bafnage, p. 391. 



[ 280 ] 

diftinctions may be, it is as ufelefs to fpeculate, 
as it is impoffible to decide. 

Whofoever will read with attention that 
particular feftionof thefe oracles, which treats 
concerning the nature of the soul, the body, 
and man, the compound of both, and compare 
the whole with what has been intimated before 
in regard to the My thratic rnyfteries and the 
fidereal afcent of the tranfmigrating foul, will 
find the whole ftrikingiy allufive to that fyftem 
of philofophy once fo predominant in the 
Oriental world as well as highly illuftrative of 
it. In one of thofe efFata we find, mentioned 
in exprefs terms, the (p-ja-sD; owtotttgv dyccXftx, 

THE GREAT SELF-CONSPICUOUS IMAGE OF 

>7 ature ; of which fo much has been faid be- 
fore as a principal fymbol in the myfteries. 
In the myfterious rites of Ifis in Egypt, amidft 
other ftrange and dreadful noifes, the how- 
lings of dogs (referring, I prefume, to the 
character of Anubis, the celeftial Sirius, or 
Barker,) were diftinctly heard — Vifaque canes 
ululare per umbram. Allufive to the fame 
royftic fubterraneous exhibition, we read in 
thefe oracles : 

Cv 7TQT aXydeg rcapa (iporw avdoi Seijtvvureg, 

" Out 



[ 28r ] 

* c Out of the cavities of the earth fpring 
terrestrial dogs, glancing, in delufivc 
vifion, before the view of the initiated " Thefe 
terreftrial dogs, though in Egypt doubtlefs 
referring to Anubis, might poffibly alfo in 
India have a fidereal allufion ; for, Sirius is one 
of the brighter!: of the conftellations, and the 
Indians were irnmemorially aftronomers : if 
not, they had reference to the groveling vices 
and guilty paffions, thofe evil daemons that 
haunt the human race in an un purified ftate, 
and gnaw like dogs and ravening vultures the 
mind that harbours them. We read again, 
in thefe oracles, of the myfterious potency of 
certain names recited in thofe rites by the 
hierophant : 

Elci ya(> ovopctToe, 7Tci(f Ixugoig 0EOIAOTA, 
Avvxpiv ev TeXzrccig a^rov ex cvTe *' 

that is, cc Do not alter the names that come to 
you from the barbarians ; * for, there are 
names in every nation immediately given from 
the Deity, which have an unfpeakable power 

in 

* This infolent appellation the Orientals and the Greeks 
promifcuoufly conferred yipon all foreign nations. The cuftom 
remains among the Indians to this day., who denominate all 
foreigners Mileeckihas, or infidels, as the reader may lee by 
confuting the Afiatic Refearches, vol. ii. p. 201. * 



[ 282 ] 

in facred myfteries." There can hardly be a 
doubt that the author, by the term barbarous, 
alluded to the nation of the Hebrews and the 
myftic powers attributed by them to the in- 
effable Tetractys, that Tetra£tys by 
which, I have ohferved, Pythagoras fwore, and 
which was very early corrupted, in the Pagan 
world, by the title of Jao, Jave, and Jova. i 
There is a paffage in Warburton on this fub- s 
jecl:, which will be of great ufe in explaining 
this apothegm/* Cl When the whole ceremony 
of initiation was over, then came the *A*rogtr*$ 
and delivered the hymn called the theology of 
idols. After this, the affembly was dimiffed 
with thefe two barbarous words, KOrH, 
OMIIAH, which evince that the myfteries were 
not originally Greek. The learned M. Le 
Clerc well obferves, that this feems to be only 
an ill pronunciation of Kots and Omphets, 
which, he tells us, iignifies, in the Phoenician - 
tongue, watch, and abstain from evil."* 
As we have feen the ladder and the autwroi 
&lyct\pa> fo we may in thefe oracles difcover 
the sacred fire, the emblem of the Divi- 
nity, that illumined the Mithratic cavern, in 
the following paffage, which occurs laft in 
order, (for, they are varioufly arranged by 

different 

* Divine Legation, vol. i. p. 157, edit. ott. 1738. 



[ 283 ] 

different editors,) as they ftand in the edition 
of Fabricius, and from him copied by Stanley : 

KXvSi wv^og (puvYjv. 

*< When thou beholdeft the facred fire, bright 
and formlefs, flafhing through the depths of 
the world, hear the voice of that fire," Of 
this obfcure paffage no fenfe can poflibly be 
made, except we apply it to that Mithratic 
cave, which reprefented the world made by 
Mithra; and, therefore, the meaning of the 
writer feems to be included in the following 
paraphrafe. When thou feeft the facred fire, 
during the celebration of the myfteries, 
blazing through the profound receffes of the 
cavern, confider it as an emblem of the 
Deity, who thus diffufes his genial influence 
through the moft dark and cheerlefs receffes 
of the univerfe. Revere, therefore, the awful 
image of God, (hitting forth in that nature, 
of which he his the munificent author; and 
learn gratitude, affe£tion, and duty, from the 
inftruftive fymbol. 

Of the continual interference of the evil 
Dewtah in the affairs of men, repeated ac- 
counts have been already prefented to the 

reader 



[ 284 ] 

reader from various Sanfcreet authorities ; and, 
that the Brahmins were anciently attached to 
thofe magical myfteries, which were firft fo 
denominated from the magi of Pcrfia, very 
probable conjectures have been offered. A re- 
markable pafiage in the Sacontala, compared 
with a verfe of thefe oracles, will evince how 
little the Zoroaftrian and Brahmanian doc- 
trine in this refpedl differed. The writer of 
the oracles afferts, 

Al 7F01V0U [/,Sg07TCt)V OCyKTBiOOCl* 

which pafiage Stanley thus tranflates, " the 
Furies are the stranglers of men" and 
Pfellus, commenting upon it, fays, that the 
daemons who torment mankind, being the 
vices and paffions of men perfonified, torture 
them for their crimes, and, in a manner, 
strangle them. The exhibition of the con- 
tefts of thefe good and evil genii feems for- 
merly to have conftituted as favourite a por- 
tion of the dramatic productions of India, as 
our Vice, and other mythologic characters, 
ufed to be in the ancient dramas of Britain. 
In the Sacontala, daemons of either fort are 
frequently introduced, and greatly promote 
the denouement of the piece. "What !" fays 
the Emperor Dafhmanta, c< are even my fe- 

cret 



E **s ] 

cret apartments infefted by supernatdral 
agents >" To whom Madhavya, from behind 
the fcenes, exclaims: «<Oh! help: oh! re- 
kafe me : for, a monster has caught me by 
the nape of my neck, and means to fnap 
my back-bone as he would fnap a fugar-canel" 
The ancient kings of India feera likewife to 
have poffefled a fimilar power, with the re- 
nowned Amadis's of Europe, to refcue man- 
kind from the grafp of thefe enraged demons j 
for, the Son of the Sun inftantly calls for the 
immortal bow given him by Eendra, the god 
of the firmament, and haftens to the relief of 
his fuffering friend. But, in the interim, the 
dsemon, more firmly grafping his trembling 
captive, exclaims : " Here will I ftand, O 
Madhavya • and, thirfting for thy frefli blood, 
will Hay thee, ftruggling, as a tiger flays its 
victim." Sacontala, p. 82. 

In regard to the magical rites and incanta- 
tions of either country, flnce, wherefoever in 
the ancient world aftronomy flouiiflied and 
the orbs of heaven were adored, that myfte- 
rious fcience, above all others, prevailed in 
its vigour, and indeed the Chaldseans are ever 
blended with the fiotb/ayers in Scripture; and, 
fince a comparifon and inveftigation of their 
praaifes in thefe dark arts will form a very 

interefting 



[ 286 ] 

interefting part of a future Differtation, I 
fhall therefore only here mention a parallel 
paflage or two, and conclude, for the prefent, 
this retrofpeft towards the theology and fci- 
ences of the parent-country of the world. 

When thou feeft the terreftial daemon ap- 
proach, facrifice the ftone Mnizuris, ufmg 
evocation." What extenfive and aftonifliing 
virtues the ancients imputed to certain ftones, 
confecrated with great ceremony under the 
particular influence of fome benignant planet, 
muft have been apparent to the reader in the 
account we gave of the facred ftones, called 
B^tyli, The Mnizirus was a ftone holden 
by the Chaldeans* in this facred point of 
view, and, according to Pfellus, it was flip- 
pofed to poffefs the power of evocating the 
fuperior and immaterial daemon, whofe more 
potent energy, called forth by folemn facrifice, 
obviated the malevolent purpofesof thefinifter 
or terreftial dsemon. Of the fimilar predi- 
lection of the Brahmins for ftones, gems, and 
jfhells, to which a certain fan&ity is affixed, 

and 

* Vide Pfellus, apud Stanley's Chaldaic Philofophy, p. 6i, 
edit* foL Lond. 170K 



j [ 287 ] 

and a myfterious or fanative power attributed, 
I {hall treat largely hereafter. In this place, 
I (hall mention only one, the famous Pe~ 
I dra-del-Cobr a, or ferpent-ftone of India, 
I which is faid to be a fovereign antidote againft 
the bite of the mod venomous ferpents, and 
of which moft of thofe, who have vifited 
Eaftern countries, have heard. They are to 
j be purchafed of the Brahmins alone, and are 
faid, in reality, not to be the production of any 
1 animal of the Terpentine kind, but to be fa- 
bricated by them of certain drugs, and com- 
pounded with many myftic prayers and fu- 
perftitious ceremonies. The reader will find, 
in the fecond part of Tavernier's Indian Tra- 
vel's,* a long account of this ancient ftone, 
together with an engraving of the large hooded 
ferpent, from whofe head it is abfurdly faid to 
be taken. How well, indeed, the Indians un- 
der flood, and how frequently they employed 
themfelves in the compofition of, charms that 
were fuppofed to have an influence upon the 
fortunes of mankind, is evident from the fol- 
lowing paffage in -the drama j 11ft cited, which 
is fpoken by the attendant of Sacontala, 
initiated, we muft fuppofe ; for, we are ftill in 
the retreat of the Brahmins : " Let us drefs 
j her 

* See Voyage 4e Tavernier, lib. ii. p. 391, edit, Rouen. 

! 



[ 288 ] 

her In bridal array. I have already, for that 
purpofe, filled the (hell of a cocoa-nut, which 
you fee fixed on an AMRA-tree, with the 
fragrant duft of Nagacesar as: take it down, 
and keep it in a frefn lotos-leaf, whilft I col- 
lect fome Gorachana from the forehead 
of a facred cow, fome duft from confecrated 
ground, and fome frefti cufa-grafs, of which I 
will make A PASTE to insure good-for-~ 
tune." P. 44. The good daemon of Chaldaea 
was to be evocated by the facrifice of the 
Mnizuris in the confecreted flame. The evil 
daemon of India is repulfed by the fecret and 
powerful virtues of the hallowed grafs, called 

CUSA. 

Dufhmanta, having entered the foreft of 
Gandharvas, where the moft hallowed groves 
of the Brahmins extended, is informed, that, 
during the abfence of Canna, the Arch-Brah- 
min, "fome evil daemons had difturbed their 
holy retreat:" and afterwards, that, while 
they were beginning the evening facrifice, 
ec the figures of blood-thirsty demons. 
embrowned by clouds, collected at the de- 
parture of day, had glided over the facred 
hearth, and fpread confirmation around/' 
P. 38. They lay claim particularly to the exer- 
tions of that virtuous monarch, becaufe " the 

gods 



[ 28 9 ] 

gods of Swer.ga, one of the fuperior boobuns, 
thofe gods who fiercely contend in battle with 
evil powers, proclaim victory obtained by 
his braced bow." The pupil of Canna pre- 
fently enters upon his office of driving away 
the evil daemon, which is done by fcattering 
" bundles of frefh cusa-grass round the 
place of facrifice." His attention is prefently 
called off from the holy rite by Priamvada, 
whom he addreffes in a manner that highly 
iliuftrates the fubjed: before us. " For whom 
are you carrying that ointment of usiRA-root 
and thofe leaves of water-lilies? I will ad- 
minifter, by the hand of Gautami, fame heal- 
ing water, confecrated in the ceremony called Vai- 
tama," Sacontala, p. 26. Thefe reverend 
hermits, however, in their fylvan retreats, 
were not always animated by the fpirit of 
charity and meeknefs ; they were fometimes 
dreadful in wrath as the evil Genii theoudves, 
and could thunder forth anathemas againit 
the human race with as loud vociferation* 
" Let them beware," fays Dufhmanta, " of 
irritating the pious : holy men are eminent for 
patient virtues, yet conceal within their bo- 
forns a fcorching flame!* Sacon. p. 29. The 
full meaning of the laft words may be gather- 
ed from the following paffage, cited in a 

T former 



r *9° i 

former page ; " Who, like the choleric Dur- 
vasas, has power to confume, like raging 
fire, whatever offends him." Sacont. p. 40* 
Sir William Jones, in the Afiatic Refearches, 
acquaints us, that there is in the Atharva, 
or fourth Veda, a mod tremendous incanta- 
tion with confecrated grafs, called Darbha; 
and indeed the whole drama of the Sacontala, 
or the Fatal Ring, rendered fo by the awful 
imprecation of the offended Canna, is founded 
on the fuppofition of magical power poffeffed 
by the Brahmin who utters that imprecation. 
Even the curious art of palmestry was not 
beneath the notice of the fequeftered fages of 
Heemakote, or Imaus, as is evident from the 
following paffage, which is the laft I (hall 
trouble the reader with, from this celebrated 
and beautiful production of Calidas: " What ! 
the very palm of his hand bears the marks of 
empire 5 and, whilft he thus eagerly extends it, 
fhcws its line of exqutfite network, and glows 
like a lotos expanded at early dawn, when the 
ruddy fplendor of its petals hides all other 
tints in obfcurity." Sacont. p. 89. 

Before I finally quit the Chaldaic Oracles, 
I rcqucft, on that fubjefl, to be rightly under- 
ftood j for, I am by no means an advocate for 
the* genuincnefs of the whole, but of thofe 

only 



[ 291 1 

only which have either the one or the other of 
the following marks of authenticity* Thofe 
may fairly be reputed authentic that are to 
be found in Porphyry, Damafcius, Proclus, 
and other Greek writers of the firft ages, not 
favourable to the caufe of Chriftianity; and 
thofe in the do&rines of which I have been, 
able to point out a marked fimilitude to the 
tenets propagated during the moft ancient 
periods in India, Perfia, and Egypt. 



T 2 CHAPTER 



[ 293 ] 



CHAPTER II. 



j The Trinity of Egypt confidered reprefented by 
a Globe, a Serpent, and a Wing, — 
The Globe, or Circle, an ancient Emblem 
of Deity among the Egyptians, meaning Him 
whofe Centre is every where, whofe Cir- 
cumference is no where, to be found. — By 
the Globe, therefore, is defignated the Omni- 
potent Father. — By the Serpent, the Sym- 
bol of Eternity and Wifdom, is typified the 
eternal Logos, the Wisdom of God. — By 
the Wing, Air or Spirit 5 and, more par- 
ticularly, the Spirit with incumbent Wings. 
— An extended Account of Hermes Tris- 
megist, the fuppofed Author of this fub lime 
Allegory. — A general View taken of the more 
fecret and my /Heal Theology of the Egyptians 5 
the Subfance, of which their Hieroglyphics 
were the Shadow. — Osiris, Cneph, and 
Phtha, the nominal Triad of the Egyptians, 
but their Characters ultimately refohe them- 
T 3 flw* 



[ *94 ] 

fehes into tbofe of the three Chrlflian Hy- 
poftafes. 

y^REVIOUSLY to the examination of the 
Jl more myfterious parts of the Egyptian 
theology, I muft be permitted to repeat a 
former remark, that it is a circumftance which 
at leaft muft ftrike with aftonifhment, if not 
with confufion, the determined oppofer of the 
doctrine for which I contend, that, in almoft 
every region of Afia to which he may direct a 
more minute attention, this notion of a certain 
Triad of perfons in the Divine EfTence has 
conftantly prevailed. Even where the exact 
number of three is not expreflly mentioned, 
the notion of a plurality in that effence, a 
notion groffly conceived and ill explained, ftill 
formed a prominent feature of the Pagan 
creed. In every age, and almoft in every re- 
gion of the Afiatic world, there feems uniform- 
ly to have flourifhed an immemorial tradition 
that one God had, from all eternity, begotten 
another God, the Aypivgyo; and Governor of 
the material world, whom they fometimes 
called the Spirit, Tlvevpa, ; fometimes the Mind, 
N*£5 and fometimes the Reafon, or Aoyo;> 
Though they entertained ftrange notions con- 
cerning the perfons who compofed it, and 

often 



f 295 ] 

often confounded the order of the hypofiafes, yet 
their fentlments upon this fubjeft, of a divine 
Triad the fupremc Governor of the world, feem 
to have been at once very ancient and very 
general. There were, indeed, in the fyftem of 
the ancient Oriental theology, and efpecially 
that of Egypt, certain truths fo awfully 
fublime, that the facred guardians of that 
theology concealed them from public invefti- 
gation under the veil of hieroglyphics, and 
wrapt them in the (hades of allegory. Ctoe 
of thofe truths was the fuppofed nature of 
God himfelf, and this threefold diftin&ion in 
that nature, a matter which, however ob- 
fcurely they themfelves underftood, they feem 
to have laboured, by every poffible means, to 
veil in additional obfcurity, and principally by 
a multitude of fymbols, of which only very 
doubtful explications have defcended to pofte- 
rity. There was one symbol, however, fo 
prominent and fo univerfal, that its meaning 
can fcarcely be mifconceived or wrongly in- 
terpreted. It was invented in conformity to 
ideas, accurately to unfold which we mud 
penetrate to the very highcft fource of the 
Egyptian theology, and invefligate what has 
come down to us relative to the chara&er and 

T 4 hiftory 



[ 2 9 6 1 

hiftory of its fuppofed author, the renowned 
Hermes. 

In this comprehenfive retrofpect towards 
the earlreft dawn of fcience and fuperftition in 
Afia, it is not the leaft perplexing circumftance 
to me, that the perfins of all the primitive 
hierophants and legiflators are involved in 
equal obfcurity with the doffirines promulgated 
by them. If this aflertion be true in regard 
to Zoroafter, of the leading principles of vvhofe 
theology and philofophy we have juft taken 
an extenfive review, fo is it in a degree no lefs 
remarkable than generally acknowledged of 
the Hermes of Egypt and the Thracian Or- 
pheus. The talk I have undertaken becomes 
more arduous every ftep that I advance; and • 
the indulgent reader, it is humbly hoped, will 
extend to my labours a. proportionate degree 
of candqr. 

As the name of Zoroafter was ufurped by 
more than one celebrated character in anti- 
quity, fo was that of Taut ; but ftill our con- 
cern is principally with the moft ancient of 
the name - y and the united voice of antiquaries 
affigns to him a Phoenician origin. It was 
from the writings of this moft ancient Taut, 
the firft inventor of letters, that Sanchoniatho 
drew the materials for his Phoenician hiftory* 

the 



[ 2 97 1 

j the valuable fragment of which is preferved 
1 by Eufebius, and has been commented upon 
! a t confiderabie length by Bifhop Cumberland. 

The age in which Taut flourifhed it were in 
f vain to attempt to afcertain, fince even his 
| copier Sanchoniatho lived before the Trojan 
I war. Phoenicia, having been peopled by the 
race of Canaan, as Egypt was by that of 
Mizraim, the two fons of Ham, the grand 
I poft-diluvian idolater, may well be fuppofed 
to have its theology debafed by a very con- 
I fiderable alloy of grofs fuperftition. In fafii} 
their fyftems of the cofmogony were generally 
confidered by Chriftian writers as completely 
atheiftical, till the genius and induftry of Cud- ^ 
•worth, difplayed in his Intelledtual Syftem of. 
the Univerfe, were exerted to vindicate the 
refpeclive hypothefes. adopted by each nation 
from the heinous charge. This he has effected 
in regard to the cofmogony of Phoenicia, by 
giving a more favourable conftruftion to the 
words of Sanchoniatho than they have been 
allowed - by preceding commentators : he con- 
fiders it as founded on the bans of the doctrine 
which maintains two predominant principles 
in nature, Matter or Darknefs, and Spirit or 
Intelligence. By the former he would under- 
Hand the chaos, obfcure and turbid; by the 

latter 



[ 2o8 ] 

latter the agitative nnvp*, wind or fpirit, 
which put that chaos in motion, and ranged 
in order the various parts of the univerfc. 
Concerning his able vindication of the Egyp- 
tian cofmogony from the imputation of efta- 
bli fhing_ Atheifm, much will occur in the 
fucceeding pages. On this particular point, 
however, fince the firft volume of this Hiftory 
treats largely of all the Afiatic cofmogonies, I 
fhall at prefent add nothing farther, but return 
to Taut ; who, according to Philo of Biblus, 
the interpreter of Sanchoniatho, went from 
Phoenicia in the earlieft ages of the world into 
Upper Egypt, where he eftabliflied a vaft 
and' powerful empire j and, according to the 
whole ftreamof genuine antiquity, taught the 
Egyptians aftronomy, mufic, and letters. This 
Taut, or Thoth, was the true Anubis of the 
Egyptians ; and, for the brilliance of his genius 
and difcoveries, their gratitude aUigned him, 
when dead, a Ration in Sirius, the brighteft of 
the conciliations. He was likewife one of their 
eight greater gods ; and the harp which he 
invented is the testupo of the celeftial fphere. 
We (hall, probably, hereafter difcover that he 
was the elder Bhood of India, who flouriihed at 
the beginning of the Callee Yug, and pollibly 
that the Tortoife, in which Veefhnu, of whom 

Bhood 



t 299 ] 

Bhood was one appearance, became incarnate, 
was no other than the fame Teftudo. Taut, 
however debated by the reprefentation of San- 
choniatho, whofe real wifh feems to have been 
to have e(labli{lied a'fyftem of cofmogony on 
aiheiftical principles, was probably the author 
of that nobler theology which, Eufebius in- 
forms us, prevailed in the Thebais, and which, 
however in fome points pbfeured, afferted the 
agency of a fupreme Agathodaimon, or good 
fpirit, whom they called Cnepk, in the govern- 
ment of the world. By a minute inveftigation 
of this more ancient Egyptian theology, we 
iiiall at once difcover very expreffive traits of 
the true religion, and ftrong connecting lines 
of its gradual and increafing corruption by 
Chaldaic phyfics and Hammonian idolatry. 

I have before obferved, in the cafe of Zo« 
roafter, that if any perfon, peculiarly eminent 
for fcience and genius, flourifhed in the re- 
moteft ages of the world, and happened to be 
followed in fucceeding ages by another diftin- 
guilhed by fimilar endowments and rival ge- 
nius, the ancients frequently beftowed upon 
the fecond great chara&er the name of the 
firft. This has occafioned infinite confufion, 
and accounts for the numerous catalogues of 
fynonymous gods and heroes that fvyell the 

hiftprk 



E 3 00 ] 

liiftoric page. The real reafon of this conduct 
is to be found in the general prevalence during 
thofe periods of the doctrine of the Me temp* 
fychofis, fince they believed the latter to be 
animated by the foul of the former during the 
courfe of its terrene migration. This was ex- 
actly the cafe with the two perfonages who 
bore the name of Hermes in Egypt, on the 
latter of whom, not lefs than the former, the 
Egyptians conferred the high-founding title of 
Trismegistus, or ter maximus. 

This is not the exaft place for a difquifition 
on the origin of letters-, but, when the ancients 
affert that the elder Hermes was the firft in- 
ventor of letters, they doubtlefs mean an hie- 
i oglyphical character which bore considerable 
refemblance to the obje<ft defcribed. The fun, 
for inftance, could not be more ftrikingly re« 
prcfented than by a circle; nor the waning 
moon than by a half circle. Chemiftry, 
indeed, ftill perfeveres in ufmg this fpecies of 
■fymbolical defignation; for, by the former, it 
dilringuifhes gold ; by the latter, fiiver. It 
was probably from him that the Egyptians 
learned to defignate the perfe&ion of the di- 
vine nature, of which they thought the fun 
the pure!! and brighteft emblem, by a circle, 
and the diftindtion pleaded for in that nature 

by 



E 3 QI 3 

bV AN EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE } but it W3S 

th* ftcond Hermes who flourimed four centu- 
ries after, to whom pofterity, as the fragment 
of Sanchoniatho in Eufebius informs us, are 
indebted for deciphering that hierogtyphical 
fpecies of writing, and forming it into a regu- 
lar alphabet. Taut was governor of Sais ro 
the Upper Egypt, and the fame Eufebius, 
citing Porphyry, acquaints us, that while the 
people, who inhabited the lower region of 
that country, were plunged in the depth of 
the groffeft idolatry, the whole Thebais united 
in acknowledging a fupreme prefiding Spirit, 
whom they called Cneph, upon which account 
they were excufed from paying the public 
taxes, levied to defray the expenfes of main- 
taining the facred animals adored in the other 
cities of Egypt. " This fupreme and un- 
created god Cneph," fays my printed, but not 
yet publimed, account of the cofmogony, 
citing Eufebius, and guided by Cudworth, 
« the nations of the Thebais worlhipped with 
the pureft rites; and fymbolically reprefented 
by the figure of a being of a dark-blue com- 
flexion, holding a girdle and a fceptre, with a 
royal plume upon his head, and thrujling forth 
from bis mouth an egg. From this egg there 
proceeded another god, whom they denomi- 

nated 



[ 3°2 ] 

nated Phtha; a term which Dr.Cud worth re- 
marks is at prefent ufed among the Copts, to 
fignify the Divine Being. Now Bifliop Cum- 
berland* deduces the term Cneph from a word 
which, in Arabic, fignines to preferv'e, or to 
cover any way, but efpecially with wings 3 an 
idea, adds the Bifhop, who wrote before the 
modern difcoveries in India, and had never 
heard of Veefhnu, which is very applicable to 
the Great Pi-eferver of men. Plutarch, in his 
treatife De Ifide et Ofiride, exprefsly aflerts the 
god Cneph to be without beginning and with- 
out end, and it is he who informs us that the 
inhabitants of Thebais, by whom the Deity 
was ^vorfhipped in fuch purity, were excufed 
from paying the public taxes, levied on ac- 
count of animal-worfliip. In fucceeding ages, 
however, this pure worfhip of Cneph, the one 
God, the great Caufe zxi&Preferver of all things, 
was changed into an idolatrous adoration of 
the dragon, or winged ferpent, Cnuphis, whofe 
fuperb temple at Elephantina in Upper Egypt 
is defcribed by Strabo,-)- and of which the ex* 
tenfive ruins, even yet awfully magnificent, 
werevifited by the modern traveller M.Savary 4 



* Cumberland's Sanchonlatho, p, 14, edit- 1720, 
f Strabonis Geographia, p. 774, edit. 1549 
% Savary on Egypt, vol. i. let, 13 * 



t 3°3 1 

j It was ufual with the lefs ancient Egyptians, 
| after they had thus degenarated from the fim- 
j plicity of their original theology, to reprefent 
| the Supreme Being and his attributes by va- 
rious emblems and hieroglyphics. They drew 
Cneph in the form of a ferpent, which was 
with them, as with the Jndiam, the emblem of 
eternity 4 and they added to the body of the 
ferpent the head of the (harp-fighted hawk. 
Their ideas being thus perverted, they, by de- 
grees loft fight of the divine original, and, at 
kngth, as I have before had frequent occafion 
to remark was too generally the cafe in the 
I ancient world, adored the fymbol for the 
reality. In confirmation of what has been 
faid above, a paffage from Philo-Biblius in 
Eufebius may be adduced, where Epeis, their 
greateft hierophant and fcribe, is faid to have 
afferted that the earlieft and mo ft venerated of 
the Egyptian gods was a ferpent, " having a 
hawk's head, beautiful to look upon; who, if 
he opens his eyes, fills the univerfe with light 
in his firft-bom region; if he wink, it is 
darknefs."* 

The 

• See the whole paflage of Philo-BibUus, as given by Eu- 
febius, in Prap. Evangel, p. 41, at C; Bifoop Cumberland^ 
Sanchoniatho, p. 14; and the Hiftory of Hindoflan, vol. u 
p. 74. 



I 



[ 3^4 ] 

The reader will, I truft, excufe my citing, I 
on this occafion, an inedited part of my own I 
Hiftory ; but, as I could only have repeated the 
fame thing, I thought it beft to ufe the fame 
words ; and it is alone the nature of the fub- 
jects in which I am engaged that has retarded 
its appearance, and compels me to be guilty 
of the indelicacy. 

From thefe quotations it is evident, that, 
whofoever might have been the author of it, 
a fpecies of theology, very much refembling 
the true, was once prevalent in Upper Egypt ; 
where the firft fettlers probably took up their 
refidence, however darkened that theology by 
the grofs ignorance and blind fuperftition of 
fqcceeding ages. The winged Cneph produced 
the god Phtha ; but the great god Osiris, the 
fupreme indivifible Emtov, has yet been un- 
noticed, and he was profefTediy the mod high 
of the Egyptian gods; the primordial fource 
from which thofe fubordinate deities emanated. 
It is Osiris, Cneph, and Phtha, therefore, 
that form the true Egyptian Triad of Deity. 
As Oliris was a title afterwards applied to the 
sun, fo Phtha was to the fire that iffued from 
the folar orb, while Cneph was the mighty 
fpirit, the xoo-px, that pervaded and ani- 
mated the whole world. Ofiris, the gubernator 



f 3°S 1 

mundi, is, therefore, on many Egyptian fculp- 
tures, painted in a boat with two attendants; 
himfelf feated in fupreme majefty in the middle, 
| and his attendants ftationed at each end of 
the vefiel. In the illuftrative engraving au- 
j nexed, copied from an ancient gem, he is fo 
defignated; and its allufion is too plain to need 
any more particular explanation. 

It has been obferved, that, in the more an- 
cient and refined theology of Egypt, the fat?- 
blime Cneph, the being of a dark-blue com- 
plexion, is reprefented as having produced 
from his own infinite efience another god, 
i whom they denominated Phtha : now Cneph, 
the fky~ coloured winged fpirit of Egypt, is 
no other than the Narayen of India, who Is 
reprefented as a fpirit of a blue colour, and 
floating upon the chaotic waters. Narayen 
and Brahma, therefore, are fynonymous terms; 
and, what is very remarkable, Brahma produces 
Veeshnu, a fpirit likewife of a blue colour, in 
the very fame manner in which Phtha is pro- 
duced: for, in an ancient Shatter, that defcribes 
the creation, thus is the birth of Bifhen, or 
Veefhnu, defcribed. 

" Braniha forthwith perceived the idea of 
things, as if floating before his eyes. He faid, 
Let them be! and all that he faw became 

U real 



[ 306 ] 

real before him. Then fear ftruck the frame 
of Bramha, left thofe things fliould be anni- 
hilated. O immortal Bramha! cried he, who 
fhall preferve thofe things which I be- 
hold ? In the inftant, a spirit of a blue 

COLOUR ISSUED FROM BrAMHA's MOUTH, and 

faid aloud, I will. Then fhali thy name be 
Bifnen, becaufe thou haft undertaken to pre* 
ferve all things."* 

The Shatter, from which this paffage is 
quoted, is one of thofe interpreted by Colonel 
Dow's Pundeet, which, I think, may befafely 
cited as original, and as poffeffing ftrong in- 
ternal evidence of authenticity, fmce we may 
be as certain that the Pundeet had no more 
confulted Porphyry than the worthy Colonel 
had read Eufebius. But let us inveftigate the 
chara&er of #9a<r, or Phtha : Suidas, on this 
word, will let us into the fecret of his real 
character. He fays, ®8ug 'IKpotttrrog 
MeppTw, Phtha is the god Vulcan of the 
Memphites: and Eufebius, citing Porphyry, 
confirms this ; for he afferts the Egyptians 
thought that Phtha, the god Vulcan, was generated 
from Cneph, the moft high creator. In this 
Inftance we have a remarkable and early proof 

not 

* See Dow's Prefatory DiiTertation to his Tranflation of 
Feriihta, p. 47- edit. 410, 1760. 



[ 3°7 1 

not only of the corruption of the true faith, 

I but the adoption of the Chaldaic philofophical 
theology by the Egyptians. For Vulcan is 

| fire, the fon of the Sun, Ofiris, and the firft 
deity in Manetho's dynafties, who reigned 

! thirty thoufand years, the imagined period of 
the fun's great revolution, which in reality, 

| however, is but 25,920 years.* Phtha, then, 
was the fame with the great firft principle in 

j the Chaldaic philofophy ; it was the central, 
the all-pervading, Fire, which, emaning from 
the fun, is difFufed through the boundlefs 
univerfe. By the fame kind of fatal delufion 

i it was that a fyftem, firft of pantheifm, then 
of naturalifm* gradually infefted the whole 
Afiatic world. The fublime character and at- 
tributes of the Deity they impioufly degraded 
by the humiliating appellation of nature ; 
while Nature herfelf, and her plaftic powers, 
originating folely in the fovereign energies of 
the fupreme creative fource of all being, they 
as abfurdiy dignified by the majeftic denomi- 
nation of God. This fupreme creative energy, 
this beneficent a£tive principle, difFufed through 
U 2 Nature, 

* The ancient aftronomers, I mean thofe of the Platonic fchool, 
j fuppofed the precession of the equinoxes to be after the 
rate of a degree in one hundred years ; but the more accurate ob- 
fervations of the moderns have fixed that precession at the rate 
I of a degree in feventy-two years. 



! 



[ 3°8 ] 

Nature, they diftinguifhed by various names ; 
fometimes it was Ofiris, the fountain of 
Light, the Sun, the prolific principle by 
which that Nature was invigorated ; fometimes 
it was the Ilup guoyovov, the life-generating 
Fire, the divine offspring of the folar deity ; 
and it was fometimes called by an appellation 
confonant to Vvyji noo-pn, or the soul of the 
world. Often too the ancients combined 
thefe three; and of celeftial Light, Fire, and 
Spirit, thofe mighty agents in the fyftem of 
Nature, formed one grand colledlive Triad of 
Deity. 

The whole of what has been juft obferved 
refpe&ing the first vivific principle, the 
n-jp fyoyovov and Yvxv xo<rpz> emanating from 
the primaeval fource of being, is vifibly of 
Chaldaic origin, and thence, through the me- 
dium of the Egyptians, the Stoic philofophers 
doubtlefs had their dofitrine of t( the fiery 
foul of the world," by which they fuppofed 
all things to be created, animated, and go- 
verned. This univerfal fpirit, infinitely ex- 
tended, like the matter which it animated, 
was the only divinity acknowledged by that 
feet, and is fublimely defcribed, by Virgil, 
in terms Angularly congenial with the doc- 
trine noticed before of thofe Indian philofo- 
phers, 



j I 

IP '.'„*•. [ 3°9 ] 

1 pliers, who aflfert that " God is every 

I WHERE ALWAYS." 

Spiritus intus alit, totamque, infufa per artus, 
Mens agitat molem, et magno fe corpore mifcet. 

/Eneid, lib. vi. v, 126, 

However incongruous and even abfurd to 
' appearance may be the aflertion, yet I have 
' the refpe&able authority of Plutarch for di- 
| viding the Egyptian theology into two clafTes, r 

the fpirttual and the phyfical: the one was ar- 
; cane, and revealed to the initiated alone 5 the 
fecond was of a lefs abftrufe nature, palpable 
to the fenfes, and therefore better adapted to 
the capacity of the vulgar. By this clue, if 
allowed me, I ftiall be able to unravel the 
whole myftery, which, without it, appears to 
be, and in fad is, impenetrable. I would call 
that more ancient, or rather primaeval, theo- 
logy, defcribed above, as particular to the 
Thebais, the spiritual and pure, for it 
certainly approaches to the purity of the pa- 
triarchal religion : to the lefs refined fyftem, 
! which prevailed in the Lower Egypt in later 
! times, and which I am now going more par- 
; ticularly to unfold, I would give the name of 
I physical. 

u 3 It 



! 



[ 3 10 3 

It is, however, very remarkable, that, whe- 
ther we inveftigate the former or the latter 
fyftem, a kind of Triad ftill forces itfelf upon 
our notice; for, if we lofe fight of Ofiris, 
Cneph, and Phtha, our attention is ftill at- 
tracted by the joint operations of Ofiris, Ifis, 
and their fori Orus. It is thefe diftinguifhed 
perfonages that fuperintend the concerns of 
men, and wage unceafmg combat with Ty- 
phon, the determined enemy of the human 
race, the Lucifer of India. I have already, in 
a former volume, exhibited thofe great out- 
lines of the Egyptian theology, confidered in a 
phyfical fenfe, which more immediately point 
to the worfhip of Ofiris and Ifis, a worlhip fo 
apparently indecent, but attempted to be ex- 
plained by Plutarch, upon the principle of 
the earth's being impregnated by the genera- 
tive warmth of the folar beam. The whole 
fyftem of the vulgar theology of Egypt feems 
to have been erecled on that bafis 5 and even 
in that perverted and debafed fyftem, the vef- 
tiges of the grand primaeval theology, and the 
doclrine of the three hypoftafes, governing the 
univerfe, are not wholly obliterated. Let us 
impartially examine the hypothefis, and atten- 
tively confider the purport of the varied alle- 
gory. In this inveftigation, however, it is 

karcely 



[ 3" 1 

fcarcely poffible to avoid a repetition of many 
circumftances already recapitulated} fince he, 
who would completely explore the Egyptian 
theology, is like one who travels through a 
vaft labyrinth, where, amidft a thoufand de- 
vious and intricate mazes, his path ftill ter- 
minates in one central point, while his view is 
for ever bounded by one uniform object. 

When the true knowledge of God, as a 
Spirit eternal and in viable, was forgotten, 
and when all immediate intercourfe of the de - 
vout foul with that Spirit ceafed in the line 
of Ham, the corrupted mind of man fought 
out for a deity palpable to the lenfes, a deity 
more fuited to the degraded condition of his 
nature, and more comprehenfible by the nar- 
rowed faculties of his foul. Degraded, how- 
ever, as that nature was now become, and 
lcifened as were thofe faculties, no object in- 
ferior to that which is the most glorious 
in the universe could poffibly fucceed to 
the beautiful and iublime image of Deity ori- 
ginally implanted and cherimed in the human 
breaft. It was Ofiris, the Sun, the moil an- 
cient fymbol of God, as well among the Pagans 
themfelves as among paganizing Jews, that 
alone was efteemed, in the vulgar theogony of 
Egypt, as -the great Creator of the world. 

U 4 ° urs 



[ 3" ] 

Ofiris was not only the hufband, but the 
brother, of Ifis; and their love was fo ardent, 
that they copulated in the very womb of their 
parent $ and, from that embrace, Horus, their 
only fon, the ^uroyaws 6eog t or firft-begotten 
god, of the Egyptians, whofe name may be 
traced to the Hebrew root aor, lux, was pro- 
duced. Ifis, at once the confort and Jifter of 
Ofiris, was the fruitful mother of all things* 
and, on the front of her majeftic temple at 
Sais, under the fynonym of Minerva, accords 
ing to Plutarch, was this folemn and compre- 
henfive defcription of her engraved $ "lam 
every thing that hath been, that is, or that 
will be ; and no mortal hath ever yet removed 
the peplum, or veil, that fhades my divinity 
from human eyes." In elucidation of this 
celebrated defcription of Ifis, there is, in the 
fecond volume of Montfaucon, a moft cu- 
rious and pifturefque engraving of the goddefs 
herfelf, which, that antiquary obferves, ex- 
hibits at one view the whole plan of the reli- 
gion of the Egyptians, confidered in this phy- 
fical fenfe, and may be called an abftradfc of it, 
equally forcible, though not fo ample, as the 
celebrated fragment of antiquity that bears the 
name of Mensa Isiaca. 

it 



[ 3*3 1 

It was copied by Montfaucon from a 
painting on cloth, which, he tells us, forms 
the covering of a mummy now in the library 
of the bare-footed Auguftine friers at Rome, 
and reprefsnts Isis Omnia, or Isis all 
things ; which is a fentiment exactly confen- 
taneous with that inferted in a former page 
from Sir William Jones's literal Tranfiation 
of the Bhagavat, in which the deity of India 
fublimely, though fomewhat obfcurely, de- 
clares, Even I was even at the first, not 
any other thing; that which exists, 

UNPERCEIVED, (VEILED FROM MORTAL 
VIEW,) SUPREME", AFTERWARDS I AM THAT 
WHICH IS; AND HE WHO MUST REMAIN AM I. 

This is furely the fame doarine, exprefied al- 
moll in the fame language, and proves that Ofi- 
ris and Efwara are the fame deity, and that Ifis 
is not different, except infex, from Ifa, the god 
of nature peribnified, who, in the concluding 
ftanza of that quotation, is faid to be every 
where always. The figure of Ifis on tins 
hieroglyphic painting is in a fitting pofture } 
upon her head refts a large globe, or circle, in 
which are inclofed three others gradually di- 
minifhing in fize : thefe circles Montfaucon 
imagines to be the fymbols of the four 
dements. The firft and largeft circle is wh.te, 

reprefentmg 



[ 3H ] 

reprefenting the colourlefs air which furrounds 
the ^arth ; the fecond circle is of a blue colour, 
emblematical of the cerulean waters of the 
ocean j the third circle is of a dark afh-colour, 
the true colour of the earth ; the fourth circle 
is of a bright red, typical of the fire, and is 
placed in the centre, becaufe fire gives light 
and heat to all things. It is remarkable that 
thefe four colours, if we except a little yellow 
intermixed for ornament, are the only colours 
made ufe of throughout the whole table, by 
which the defigner probably intimated that all 
things were compofed out of the four elements,. 
The head of the figure is covered with a large 
blue vei! % which flows down upon her bofom. 
By this circumftance our antiquary is per* 
plexed, expreffing his doubt whether it may be 
intended for a myftery ; but furely it is en- 
tirely confonant to the defcription of her 
ivbcfe veil no mortal hath ever removed y and the 
blue colour of it evidently points to herdefcent 
from the celeftial regions. She fupports, with 
her extended arms, two tables, the fringes of 
which are blue and yellow, but the ground of 
the painting is red: thefe tables contain a 
variety of Egyptian facred fymbols, of various 
allufion. The bofom of Jfis is expofed, and 
bears a .crofs fimilar to that called St. Andrew's 

crofs > 



t 3^5 3 

crofs; the allufion to which on Egyptian 
monuments has been before explained, and 
the conjefture concerning that allufion not a 
little corroborated by its pofition in this place ; 
for, below this crofs, the body of Ids is paint- 
ed 'in little fquares of blue, red, and alh- 
colour, curiouuy intermixed, down to the 
very feet, on which, in the Oriental manner, 
{he fits. Immediately under the arms of Ifis, 
two large wings are expanded, ftretching on 
either fide to the very extremities of the table. 
In thefe the fame figniHcant and myfterious 
mixture of colours is perceived; but thofe 
mentioned above, as allufive to the four ele- 
ments, the red, the blue, the white, and the 
alh-colour, are principally predominant. Two 
black sphynxes, with white head-dreffes, 
are couchant under the wings of Ids : the 
fphynx was the Egyptian fymbol of profound 
theological myftery ; it was, therefore, I have 
obferved, that they were placed in long avenues 
before the temples of their gods. They are 
painted black in allufion to the obfcure nature 
of the Deity and his attributes; and, .poffibiy, 
the white head-dreffes may allude to the linen 
tiara that are wrapt round the head of the 
minifters of religion. Ins is drawn fitting, to 
mark the permanent nature and centred lia- 
bility 



[ 3i6 ] 

bility of the univerfe, which Ihe repreferits, 
and which her wide-extended arms fupport in 
a due equilibrium; while her vaft overlhadow- 
ing wings fignify the continual motion of the 
parts of nature, a motion which by no means 
difturbs its general order, but diffufes frefh 
animation and energy throughout the vaft 
extent of creation. I prefaced thefe particular 
obfervations with remarking, that the Egyptian 
priefts affigned to their myfterious asnigmas 
two different fenfes ; the one phyfual, referring 
to the operations of nature; the other moral 
and theological, alluding to the god of na- 
ture. The phyfical fignification of this 
allegory has been explained, and I cannot 
avoid believing but that, in a moral fenfe, the 
figure of Ifis, thus adorned with wings, has 
an immediate allufion to, that primordial 
Cneph, or fpirit, whofe expanded and genial 
wings, at the beginning of time, brooded over 
and rendered productive the turbid waters of 
chaos. 

Such was the phyfical and popular fyflem 
of belief inculcated on the minds of thofe 
who were not admitted within the pale of 
initiation, into the more arcane and recondite 
theology, which defcended from the venerable 
patriarchs. Of thefe, Abraham is afTmed by 

fome 



[ m 3 

fome learned antiquaries to have been co- 
temporary with the fecond Hermes, who ob- 
tained from him fuch ample information con- 
cerning this and many other myfteries of the 
Hebrew creed, as enabled him to explain 
with accuracy, the hieroglyphic fymbols of 
them with which the elder Hermes had de- 
corated the lofty walls of the temples of the 
Thebais. Of the innumerable books, however, 
afferted to have been written by this reviver 
of the fciences and genuine theology of Egypt, 
only forty-two remained entire in the time of 
Clemens Alexandrinus, a Chriftian father, 
who flourilhed near the clofe of the fecond 
century* Of thefe, fome fcattered remnants 
are fuppofed to have reached pofterity ; but 
the genuinenefs of moft of them may, with 
great juftice, be fufpeftedj and it is m 
Jamblichus, on the Egyptian Myfteries, that 
the only undoubted veftiges of the Hertnaic 
writings, or of the ancient Egyptian theology, 

are to be found. 

One of the moft ancient maxims by which 
they expreffed the infcrutable nature of God 
was, that his throne was centered in the 
bofom of intenfe darkaefs ; by which they 
doubtlefs intended to fhadow out the En Saph, 

or 

• Vide Stromka, cr.p. iv. p. 757. cdit ' P ~ tter - 



I 



C 3^8 ] 

or infinite unfathomable abyfs, in which, ao 
cording to the Hebrews, the awful arcana of 
the Godhead lay concealed from mortal view. 
Hence, under the fymbol of Harpocrates, the 
god of filence, with his finger feverely prefied 
upon his clofed lips, as exhibited upon the 
engraving annexed, a fymbol conftantly oc- 
curring on all -r the gems and fculptures of 
Egypt, allufive to their facred rites, a pro- 
found and inviolable fecrefy in religious mat- 
ters was forcibly inculcated upon the wor- 
fliipper. Of this fentiment actually exifting 
as a fundamental axiom in the Egyptian theo- 
logy, Damafcius, cited by Dr. Cudworth,* 
affords the following remarkable attention : 
p/G5 rtav oXm 'Af%^ (Txorog dyvcotTTOV tpvxpBvrj, xctt 
two T(>tg dvotfpuwpzvov *Tuq ; <c there is one prin- 
ciple of all things, praifed under the name of 
the unknown darkness, and this THRICE 
repeated;' There is alfo to be found in the 
writings of Hermes Trifmegift a fecond 
maxim, which is exceedingly important to be 
noticed here, becaufe highly illuftrative of 
what will follow relative to the globe, the 
ferpent, and wings, by which their notions of 
a Trinity in the divine nature were fymbolifed. 
The following fublime definiton of Deity is 

to 

• See Intelleaual Syftem, vol. i, p. 354, edit. Birch. 



[ 3*9 1 

to be found in thofe books : Deus circuks efl y 
cuius centrum ubique, circumferentia nufquam ; 
or, God is a circle, whose centre is e- 

VERY WHERE, BUT WHOSE CIRCUMFERENCE 

is no where, to be found. This geometri- 
cal figure was confidered as the moft perfeft of 
all thofe made ufe of in that fcience, and as 
comprehending in itfclf all other imaginable 
figures whatever. Hence it arofe, that nearly 
all the Egyptian hieroglyphics, illuftrative of 
the divine nature, were adorned with circular 
emblems ; and that almoft all the temples of 
Egypt were fculptured with the fymbol under 
confideration. This, probably, is one reafon 
why Ofiris is conftantly depicted fitting on 
the flower Lotos, of which both the fruit and 
the leaves are of a circular form, at once em- 
blematical of the perfeaion of the Deity, as 
well as poffibly allufive to the rapid circular 
motion by which every thing in nature re- 
volves. It is, therefore, impoffible for any 
fymbol to be more exprefs upon the unity of 
God than the hieroglyphic circle, or orb, 
above alluded to. 

And yet in the following paffage, extraded 
by Kircher * from the Trifmegiftic books, and 
which I give in that father's Latinity, the 

conceptions 

» Vide CEdip. iEgypt. torn, in- p. {76. 



[ 3 2C ] 

conceptions of Hermes, in regard to a Trinity, 
are equally decifive : Una Jola lux fuit in- 
telleffualis ante lucem intelle£lualem> et fuit Jeni- 
fer mens mentis lucida ; et nihil aliud fuit hujus 
imio, quam spiritus omnia conneftens. " There 
hath ever been one great intelle&ual light, 
which hath always illuminated the mind; 
and their union is nothing elfe but the spirit, 
which is the bond of all things/* Here the 
light, which is the Kadmon of the Hebrews, 
the mind, which is the tfvg of the Platonifts, 
and the connecting spirit, plainly manifeft to 
us the three hypoftafes of a purer theology . 
But left this authority, from the general fuf- 
picion which fhades the fragments of Hermes, 
fliould appear infufficient, let us hear another 
author, a Platonic philofopher, to whom Pro- 
clus gives the exalted title of Divine j to whofe 
keen exploring eye all the profound mytteries 
of the Egyptian theology were laid bare ; and 
who wrote while the undoubted Trifmegiftic 
books were in being. Jamblichus, in his ce- 
lebrated book De Myfteriis, profeffing to give 
a genuine account of the theological opinions 
propagated by Hermes, writes as follows : 
Upo£G&T]et 'Epfjtijg 6bov tqv 'H[zy}<p tuv 67nsgccviuv 9euv 
jyvpevov : that is, <c Hermes places the god 
Emeph (or Cneph) as the prince and ruler 

over 



E 3** 1 

over all the celeftial gods." Now Emeph is 
no other than Cneph, who produced, in the 
manner before-mentioned, the deity Phtha, 
whence the famous word HeMp-tha, de- 
noting their relation and indiflbluble union : 
before which Emeph, however, he tells us, 
the fame Hermes placed one primordial fource 
of all being 5 ov kcci 'Eiktuv immpk^ h w to 
I irgujov sg-i v£v, kxi to ir^ov voiflov, & $q kc&i Stx 
; ciyis ftmw 6e^7T ever ui ; " him whom he calls 
Eicton, in whom is the firft of intelligences, 
and the firft intelligible, and who is adored 
only in filence." After thefe two, Hermes 
1 places the inpmgfoxo$ N»$, the demiurgic 
Mind, which, in the Egyptian language, he 
fays, is called Apuv, Ammon but is fome- 
times denominated Phtha, the Vulcan of the 
Greeks j and at other times Osiris, according 
to its various operations and energies. But, 
what is very remarkable, as being entirely cori- 
fonant with the Hebraic notions on this fub- 
je£t, Jamblichus adds, as companions to the 

Zo<piu;> or the guardian of truth, (that is, 
the Ruah Hakkodefn, the spirit of truth,) 
and Wisdom, the Cochma of the Hebrews. 
Surely it is impoffible for language to be more 
decided than this, or any thing more expreffly 

X to 



[ 3" 3 

to the purpofe than the whole of the chapter 
whence thefe extracts are made.* It ftiould 
not here be forgotten, that Hermes is by 
Suidas afferted to have obtained his very name 
of T^fjLBytgog from the plain allufions to a 
divine Triad to be found in his writings. 

From the whole of what has been obferved 
relative to the facred fymbolical fculptures of 
Egypt, as well in the pages immediately pre- 
ceding, as in former parts of this Differtation, 
three facts are indubitably eftablifhed. The 
firft is, that an orb, or circle, being the moil 
complete figure in the whole fcience of geo- 
metry, was efteemed by them the mod ex- 
preffive emblem of the Omnipotent Father of 
the univerfe, the incomprehenfible Eicton, 
the fupreme Osiris, in his higheft intelle&uai 
character, undegraded by phylics j that firft 
ineffable Numen, whofe centre is every where, 
but whofe circumference is no where, to be 
found. We are, therefore, authorized in ap- 
plying this expreffive fymbol to the firft hy- 
poftafis in the Chriftian Trinity. The fecond 
demonftrative point is, that the ferpent, from 
its great vigour and revirefcence, was confider- 

ed 

* For thefe four refpeclive quotations, fee Jamblichus de 
Myfteriis, fe£L 8, cap. iii. p. 159, edit. Gale, fol. Oxonian 
1678. 



[ 3 2 3 ] 

ed as an equally pifturefque fymbol of eter- 
I mm ; and, from its fubtlety, of wisdom. On 
this account it was thought the propereft 
hieroglyphic to reprefent the demiurgic Mind, 
or Agathodaimon of the Egyptians, allufive 
to whofe operations there were, in the temples 
of Egypt and Tyre, two remarkable fculp- 
turesj the former, that defcribed from Eufebius, 
" as having a hawk's head, beautiful to look 
upon, who, if he opens his eyes, fills the uni- 
verfe with light the latter, defignated in the 
attitude of encircling, in the genial folds of 
his warm and prolific body, the mundane egg, 
i that is, the univerfe, and making it produc- 
tive. This curious emblem the reader may fee, 
engraved from Vaillant, in the fecond volume 
of Mr. Bryant's Analyfis ; and he will here- 
after find it, in the firft volume of this Hiftory, 
on that plate which exhibits the bull of Japan 
breaking the egg of chaos with his horn. 
This emblem, therefore, of eternity and wif- 
dom, this image of the energy of creative 
power, we confider as referring to the eternal 
Logos in the Christian Triad; to that quick- 
ening Word, by whom all things were made, and 
without whom was not any thing made that was 
made. Additional evidence, I am confident, 
need not be added to the accumulated proofs 
X 2 previoufly 



! 



[ 3 2 4 1 

previoufiy adduced, that, by fculptured wings, 
(the fymbols of air and wind,) ever extended 
to overfhadow and defend, the Egyptians de- 
fignated their famous Cneph ; and though, 
in this refpect, from their obfcure notions 
concerning the Trinity, as before obferved, they 
manifeftly confounded the order of the hy- 
poftafes, becaufe the demiurgic Phtha is made 
to proceed from Cneph ; yet, by the latter, 
they doubtlefs meant to typify the facred per- 
fon to whom we apply it, the incumbent 
Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters* 
If, now, we confult the Ifiac or Bembine table, 
(an account of which has been given in a 
former page j or if we caft our eye upon the 
Pamphyiian obelilk engraved in Kircher ; or, 
indeed, on any of the portals of the Egyptian 
temples, copied in the accurate volumes of 
Pococke and Norden; for, the fronts of ail are 
invariably decorated with it we fhall find their 
conceptions, on this fubjecl, fully expreffed by 
the very pifturefque and beautiful hieroglyphic 
fo often alluded to in thefe pages, exhibiting 
a central orb, with a serpent, and wings 
proceeding from it. It was principally to dif- 
play this hieroglyphic on the very fpot where 
it has fiourifhed for near 4000 years, an irre- 
fragable monument of the exiftence in the old 

Egyptian 



I 

[ 3 2 5 1 

i Egyptian theology, derived from the venerable 
patriarchs in the infancy of time, of a dogma,^ 
! falfely afferted to have been the invention of 
! the Platonic philofophers 1500 years after, 
that I caufed that fuperb portal of the grand 
temple of Luxore to be engraved from Nor- 
den's defigns, which forms the frontifpiece of 
! the third volume of this work. He will find 
! it likewife delineated on a feparate plate, and 
1 upon a larger fcale, from the fame author's de- 
j fign of the celebrated temple of Ms, in the 
Ifle of Philae. 

Kircher, treating of the Pamphylian obelilk, 
on which venerable monument of antiquity 
this hieroglyphic ftands firft in order, cites a 
variety of authorities, and, in particular, that 
©f Abenephius, an Arabian writer, and a frag- 
ment imputed to Sanchoniatho, in teftimony 
that the Egyptians really did intend, by this 
fymbol, to ftiadow out Seov r^o^av, a tri- 
form Deity. I (hall not, however, trouble the 
reader with a multitude of conjectures which 
he may think vifionary, or of authorities which 
he may confider as doubtful. The true mean- 
! ing of the fymbol is only to be found in an 
i impartial inveftigation and patient comparifon 
of their theological fentiments, as reprefcntcd 
by writers of high rcfpedt ability and undoubt- 
X 3 ed 



[ 3^6 Ii 

ed authenticity hi the Pagan world, who can 
be fufpected of no interefc to warp, and no 
prejudice to miflead, them. That inveftigation, 
and that companion, have now been made by 
mej and the refuit of the whole is, that, if 
Prod us and Jamblichus are deferving of cre- 
dit, the moft ancient Egyptians actually did 
entertain notions, though confufed and ob~ 
fcure, of the doctrine which is the object of 
this extenfive Difquifition, 



CHAPTER 



[ 3 2 7 3 



CHAPTER III. 



An Account of the trinity of Dhlne Perfons^ in 
the Hymns attributed to Orpheus. — Conjec- 
tures concerning ike Age and Hl/lory of that 
obfcure Perfor.age. — His Doctrines Inculcate 
a Species of Pantheism, and are a Mixture 
of the Principles propagated In the Magian 
and Hermetic Schools,— All, however, to 
be met with in the ancient Indian Sastras. 
Proofs of the Affertion adduced from various 
Paffages in the Bhagvat Geeta. — The 
allegorical Hypoflafes In the Orphic Trinity, 
Light, Counsel, and Life ; -eery much 
refembling the Sephiroth of the Hebrews 5 
pc/fibly copied from their Books, or elfe the Re- 
fult of Patriarchal Traditions diffufed through 
Afia in the Time of Orpheus. — The Samo- 
thraclan Cabiri, or Three mighty Ones, 
are next confidered, and the Translation 
of that Worfhip into Italy, which laid the 
Bafn of the joint Adoration of Jupiter, Juno, 



[ S3* ] 

and Minerva, the Triad of the Roman 
Capital, 

|^BSCURITY veils In her deepeft (hades 
\J every circumftance that relates to the 
origin, the age, and the country, of Orpheus : 
the very exiftence of fuch a perfon has, in 
confequence, been denied by feme writers of 
antiquity ; while, by others, no lefs than fix 
different Orpheus's have been enumerated. 
From the circumftance of there being fo many 
of this name enumerated, there arifes evident 
proof, that, in the remoteft aeras, fuch a perfon 
actually flourifhed; and the multiplication of 
them may be accounted for by the fame argu- 
ment ufed before in regard to the multitude 
of fucceffive Zoroafters, and the two Hermes, 
viz. that of the Metempfychofis, in which the 
foul of the firft eminent perfon was thought 
to infpire thofe who were afterwards diftin- 
guifhed in the fame line of genius and fcience. 
In regard to Orpheus, without entering into 
ufelefs difcuffion, we may remark that the 
moft ancient and genuine Orpheus, from 
whom the Greeks derived all the grand myfte- 
ries of their theology and all the profound 
arcana of philofophical fcience, is generally 
allowed to have been of Thracian origin, to 

have 



[ 3 2 9 J 

have lived before the Trojan war, and to have 
travelled into Chaldea and Egypt, where he 
drank deep at the fountains of the Magian and 
Hermetic doctrines. 

The whole fyftern, however, of the Orphic 
theology, whofoever he was, is to be found in 
India. The facred ftream of that theology 
rolled firft into Egypt in a direft and copious 
flood 5 it flowed thence into Greece, but, in its 
progrefs, the current was divided and its waters 
defiled. That grand principle of both the 
Trifmegiftic and Orphic religion, recorded by 
Proclus, 

Zsuff Re<paXfl, Zevg pe<r<ru % Atog J* etc ttclvtcc TervjcW* 

" Jove is the head and middle of all things; 
all things were made out of Jove ;" is perfectly 
confentaneous with the often-cited extrad 
from the Bhagavat relative to the Indian 
deity, who is affirmed to be <c all that is, and 
every where always." The Orphic maxim, that 
the divine Effence embraced, and was inti- 
mately diffufed, throughout the effence of every 
created being, is to be met with in every page 
of the Geeta. Orpheus, however, does not 
appear fo fcrupuloufly to preferve the unity 



* Proclus in Timaeo, p. 95. 



[ 330 ] 

of the Deity unviolated. He has, as it were, 

infinitely partitioned out the to fm&Hw cvpa 
Znvog, the immenfe body of Jupiter, and peopled 
the univerfe with fubordinate Deities; but the 
Geeta, in the following fublime paffage, pre- 
ferves that unity, and exhibits not the divine 
B Hence divided, but all nature in its wonderful 
diverfity, collected and arranged in harmonious 
order within the infinite expanded effence of 
God. At the earned requeft of Arjoon, the 
Deity difclofes to him his fupreme and hea- 
venly form, adorned with celeftial robes and 
chaplets, anointed with heavenly odours, dif- 
fufing a glory like the fun fuddenly riling in 
the heavens with a thoufand times more than 
nfuai brightnefs. — "The ion of Pandoo 
then beheld witbip the body cf God s (landing 
together, the whole univerfe divided forth into 
its vaft variety. He was overwhelmed with 
wonder, find every hair was raifed an end. He 
bowed down his head before the God, and 
thus addreiTed him 3 with joined hands." &c. 
Geeta, p. 90. 

The great difference, between the Brahma- 
r.ian fyftem of theology and that of the Gre- 
cian philofophers, confifts in this, that the 
former were too much inclined to fpiritualize, 
the latter to materialize, every thing : with the 

former 



[ 33* 3 

former all is Atma, fpirit, and Maia, illufion; 
in the mind of the latter, for the moft part, 
fenfible obje&s predominate, and the univerfal 
phenomena were refolved into motion and 
matter : I fay for the moft part, fince it would 
be equally unjuft and untrue to deny that 
many of the Greek philofophers, and, in par- 
ticular, Pythagoras and Plato, had very fub- 
lime conceptions of a Supreme Deity, diftina 
from all matter \ the exhauftlefs fountain of 
all being; the eternal fource of all benevolence. 
Indeed Orpheus himfelf, the father of the 
Greek theology, amidft many corruptions in 
the writings imputed to him, divulged this 
fublime truth ; and, what is very remarkable, 
while he is thus exprefs upon the exiftence 
and unity of a Supreme God, he as decidedly 
points out to us the triple diftin&ion in his 
nature contended for, and which ever feems to 
have accompanied that notion in the mind of 
even the unenlightened Pagan. 

The theologic doclrine of Orpheus was 
abridged by Timotheus, the chronographer, in 
his Cofmopce'ia, a book long ago extindt, but 
his abridgement has been preferved for pofte- 
rity by Suidas, by Cedrenus, and in the 
Chronica of Eufebius, a writer not forward to 
acknowledge any traces of true religion in a 

heathen 



[ 332 ] 

heathen writer. According to Timotheus in 
Ccdrenus,* Orpheus afferted the exiftence of 
an eternal, incomprehenfible, Being, A^pyov 
dirccvTM, 7cm uvtx tz cci6^og 3 mi hr.cvrruv toov W 
a-jTov rov ctiOgga. : "the Creator of all things, even 
of the sther itfelf,f and of all things below 
that aether/' This do&rine is furely very dif- 
ferent from that of Athcifm imputed to Or- 
pheus; and, though coming to us through the 
page of Timotheus, a Chriftian writer, is 
more likely than the other to have been the 
genuine theology of Orpheus, on account of 
the known veneration entertained for his 
writings by the two moft enlightened feds of 
philofophers in Greece, the Pythagoreans and 
Platonifls, who were the exprefs affertors both 
of a Supreme Being and the immortality of 
the foul. The account proceeds to ftate that 
this Supreme Ayptvgyos is called ons, BOTAH, 
ZaU; Light, Counsel, and Life.J Suidas, 
wonderfully corroborating the whole of this 
hypothefis, adds, 

Suwutit 

i 

* Ced rem Chronograph, p. 46. 

f The word aether muft here be underftood in the fenfe of 
the Chaldaic philofophers, the more refined matter in which the 
celelhal bodies float; the a k ash, or fifth element, of the 

Brahmins. 

t Cedreni Chronograph, p. 47, 



[ 333 ] 

I lmu V AV k*s<phvutq 5 " thefe three names exprefs 
! only one and the fame power and Timotheus 
1 concludes his account by affirming, that Or- 
pheus, in his book, declared, Six rgmv aurm iw- 
pxTUV gjuotg SeorqTog re* T*retvTx lynvsro, Koti avrog 
Ifi to. vravroi ; <c that all things were made by 
one Godhead in three names, and that this 

j God IS ALL THINGS, f 

In this moft ancient and reoondite theology 
of Orpheus, befide the more general feature of 
affinity apparent in fome parts of it to the 
true, it ought to be noticed as bearing, in 
refpedt to its threefold diftinflion of the divine 
Effence into Light, Counfel, and Life, particu- 
lar lefemblance to the three Sephiroth of the 
Hebrews; for,. in Light, who does not per- 
ceive an imitation of the famous Kadmon, 
the pure Light, the radiant crown of the three 
great fplendors ? In Counfel, is not the heavenly 
Wifdom, the fecond Sephiroth, equally con- 
fpicuous ? And, in Life, is not the heavenly 
Bin ah, the third of thofe Sephiroth, recog- 
nized? that holy, that quickening, Spirit, who 
is in Scripture not only affirmed to give life, 
but to be the Spirit 07 Life.J Since Or- 
pheus 

* Suidas, in voce Orpheus. 

f Timothei Cofmopocia, p. 6i„ 

X Roman?, viii. 2. 



[ 334 ] 

pheus 5s acknowledged to have penetrated 
deeply into the arcana of the Egyptian myftic 
theology, and fince Abraham, jofeph, and 
other Hebrew patriarchs, during their long 
refidence in that eountry, doubtlefs impreffed 
tipon the minds of the higher order of the 
Egyptians many fublime precepts of the true 
theology, this fimilarity between the Orphic 
and Hebrew theology is by no means to be 
wondered at. From the fame quarter he 
affuredly borrowed his idea of the gloomy and 
boundlefs Chaos inverting all things, and the 
primaeval Light and Love that broke through 
and diffipated the incumbent darknefs. 

Left the reader, however, fhould be inclined 
to doubt the authenticity of Pagan doctrines 
defcending to us through a Chriftian medium, 
I fhall now produce an extract or two from a 
writer who can by no means be fufpected of 
any partiality to tenets propagated in the 
Chriftian world and thefe will evince fo clofe 
an union of fentiment with what has been 
prefented to him from Timotheus and Suidas, 
as cannot fail of vindicating thofe authors 
from the fufpicion of mifreprefentation. Pro- 
clus, upon the Timasus of Plato, prefents us, 
among others, with the following verfes, as 
the genuine production of Orpheus, which 

are 



t 335 1 

are as exprefs upon the Unity, as another 
! paifage which I fhali prefently cite from the 
1 fame author is upon, a Triad of hypoftafes in 
| that Unity. 

| *Ev xgxrog, Big SccifJLUV ysvBro, ptyecg a7F&VT*}» 

\ Jupiter is the king, Jupiter himfelf is the 
1 original fource of all things j there is on* 
' Power, one God, and one great Ruler over 
| all."* The other paffage is from the fame au- 
thor ; who, in the courfe of his Commentary 
upon the Timaeus, having noticed the divine 
Triad of Amelius, a Platonic philofopher, con- 
temporary with Plotinus, as confifting of a three- 
fold Demiurgus, and Of if ex of the world, or, to 
ufe his own words, r^ug, Boc<riXBig T^Big, to* 
'Ovtcc, rov 'Exovtcz, tov 'OguvTot* that is, three 
Minds, three Kings, Him that is, Him that hath, 
and Him that beholds 5 mod remarkable ex- 
preffions furely to fall from the pen of a 
.heathen writer; immediately after, in terms 
as remarkable, fubjoins : Tv}?s T ? £l s v *s %0Cl 
$7}piV(>yvg V7roli8flai y koci Tvg sru^oc tu) UXpcJ'-jvi 
T^Btg fioca-iXBxg, xoci T%g -urct^ 'Of<ps* rgeig, OANH- 
TA, %oti OTPANON, xou KPONON, xxt o poi- 

Xtg-oc 



* Proclus ia Timax), p. 95. 



[ 336 ] 

T&otg dvjto Ayptvgyog o (botvys Ipy** " AffiC** 
Iius, therefore, fuppofes thefe three Minds, and 
thefe his three demiurgic Principles, to be the 
fame both with Plato's three Kings and Or- 
pheus's Trinity of Phanes, Uranus, and 
Chronus ; but it is Phanes who is by him 
fuppofed to be principally the Demiurgus." 
To this I rauft be permitted to add, on the 
authority of my guide through this vaft laby* 
rinth of antiquity, Dr. Cudworth, that, in an 
inedited treatife of Damafcius, -ws^i cc^mv, that 
philofopher, giving an account of the Orphic 
theology, among other things, acquaints us, 
that Orpheus introduced rfypfgfaw Qeov, a tri- 
form Deity.-f I have been thus particular in 
regard to Orpheus, becaufe, as I before ob- 
ferved, his numerous writings, or, at leaflv 
thofe imputed to him, are fuppofed to be the 
rich and abundant fource whence all the 
fyftems both of theology and philofophy, that 
afterwards appeared in Greece, were derived. 

Whoever will read the Geeta with atten- 
tion will perceive, in that fmall tradt, the 
outlines of nearly all the various fyftems of 
theology in Afia. That curious and ancient 
dodlrine of the Creator, being both male and 

female, 

* Proclus in Timseo, p. 96. 

f See Cudworth's IntelL Syft. vol. i. p.. 504. 



[ 337 ] 

female, mentioned in a preceding page to be 
defignated in Indian temples by a very indecent 
exhibition of the mafculine and feminine or- 
gans of generation in union, occur in the 
following paffages : "lam the Father and the 
Mother of this world ; I plant myfelf upon my 
own nature, and create again and again this 
affemblage of beings : I am Generation and 
Diffolution, the place where all things are 
repofited, and the inexhauftible Seed of all 
nature : I am the Beginning, the Middle, and 
the End, of all things." In another part, he 
more diredtly fays, " The great Brahme is the 
womb of all thofe various forms which are 
conceived in every natural womb, and I am 
the Father that foweththe feed." P. 107. 

I do not at prefent intend to enter into the 
inveftigation of the phyfics of Orpheus and 
the other Greeks, but there are two paffages 
of the Orphic writings, the former cited by 
Damafcius, and the latter by Proclus, and 
therefore probably genuine, which are fo re- 
markably confonant to the above-=cited paf- 
fages, that I am certain the inquifitive reader 
will excufe my inferring them : they afford 
proof beyond contradiction in what country 
the idea originated, and the fentiments as well 
as the language in which they are conveyed, 

Y have 



t 338 ] 

have filch clofe affinity to each other, as would 
incline us to think the Orphic extra&s nothing 
more than a literal tranflation of the more 
ancient, venerable, and authentic, produ&ion 
of India. 

Damafcius, treating of the fecundity of the 
divine nature, cites Orpheus as teaching that 
the Deity was at once both male and female* 
dfG-evodrjXvv ccvryg VTrecrjwaJo, ^og «dki£j» ryg ttclv- 
rm yewvflixw 4<nug>* to Jhew the generative power 
by which all things were formed. Proclus, upon 
the Timaeus of Plato, among other Orphic 
verfes, cites the following : 

" Jupiter is a man 5 Jupiter is alfo an immor- 
tal maid." Nay, in the fame commentary, and 
in the fame page, we read that all things were 
contained h ycurjep Zyvog, IN THE WOMB OP 
Jupiter. As this fubjeft, however, is deeply 
conneded with the phyfics of Greece, upon 
the inveftigation of which I have declared it is 
not my intention at prefent to enter, I (hall 
not farther prolong this account of the Orphic 
fyftem of theology *, a fyftern with which the 

{peculations 

* Damafcius, apud Cudworth, vol.i. p> 302, 
f Proclus in Timceo, p. 95. 



[ 339 1 

fpeculations of philofophy are fo intimately, fo 
infeparably, blended. 

In this furvey of the Eaftern Triads of 
Deity, the great gods Cabiri, who, according 
to Herodotus, had a temple at Memphis, into 
which it was unlawful for any, except the 
priefts, to enter 4 ought by no means to be 
omitted ; but fuch complicated difficulties at- 
tend the inveftigation of their hiftory and cha- 
rafter, and fo little ufeful information would 
refult from the inquiry, that I fhall add no- 
thing more concerning them than that the 
moft ancient of thefe Cabiri, or Diofcuri, as 
they were fometimes called, are faid by Cicero 
to have been in number three, and their 
names Tretopatrasus, Eubuleus, and Diony- 
fius.* All that can be with truth averred con- 
cerning them is, that they were efteemed as the 

THREE MIGHTY GUARDIAN GENII of the UU1- 

verfe, or rather the various parts of that uni- 
verfe phyfically confidered, and that they were 
worfhipped in Samothracia, with rites which 
were amongft the moft myfterious and pro- 
found in all antiquity. One curious circum- 
ftance, however, concerning them, it is in my 
power to relate ; for, as Hecate, from her 
threefold nature, or office, was honoured in 

Y 2 Greece 

# Cicero de Natura Deorum, lib. iii. 



[ 34° ] 

Greece with an anniverfary feftival, celebrated 
ill a place where three ways met, fo were the 
'Avenue, or gods Cabiri, honoured with another, 
called from them 'Amitsiot. The facrifices offered 
at this folemnity, fays Potter, in his account 
of the Grecian feftivals, were called Zwio-ftot, 
becaufe thofe Deities were or ftrangers ; 
and they confided of three offerings, which 
were denominated Tgrfjvat.* 

As the above account of thefe obfcure per- 
fonages may appear, from its concifenefs, un- 
fatisfadtory, I (hall add to it what the moft 
able defender of this dodtrine that ever wrote 
has faid concerning the Cabiric worfhip in his 
tranfient retrofpe<5t upon the Pagan Trinities. 
This extraft will both ferve as an apology for 
the neceffary brevity I have obferved, and 
tend farther to elucidate the obfcure fubjett. 
«< Who thefe Cabiri might be, has been matter 
of unfuccefsful inquiry to many learned men ; 
the utmoft that is kown with certainty is, 
that they were originally three, and were 
called, by way of eminence, the great or 
mighty ones ; for that is the import of the 
Hebrew word Cabirim. And of the like im- 
port is their Latin appellation penates. Dii 
per quos penitus fpiramus, per quos habemus 

corpus* 

* Potter's Archaeologia Grxsix, vol. i. P- 3°6= 



[ 34i ] 

corpus, per quos rationem animi pojjidemus.* Du 
quifunt intrinfecus, at que in intimis penetralibus 

The worfhip of a triple power under the 
former name, Dr. Horfley is of opinion, was 
carried from Samothrace into Phrygia by 
Dardanus, fo early as in the ninth century 
after the flood. The Trojans imported it 
from Phrygia into Italy 5 and he afferts, that 
veftiges of this acknowledgement and adora- 
tion of a Trinity are vifible in the joint worfhip 
of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the Triad of 
the Roman capitoL 

« This worftiip, therefore," obferves the 
Biftiop, " is plainly traced back to that of the 
three mighty ones in Samothrace, which 
was eftablifhed in that i(land 7 at what precife 
time it is impofflble to determine, but earlier, 
if Eufebius may be credited, than the days of 

Abraham.";}; 

In teftirnony of what the learned Bifhop 
has afferted in regard to the introduaion of 
the Trojan gods by ^Eneas, though it be 
y j fcarcely 

* Macrobii Saturnalia, lib.iii. cap, 4. 



I Varro apud Arnob. lib.iii. p. 123. 

I See Bifhop Horfley'sTraa*. p. 44, edit. oft. 17*9- 



[ 342 ] 

fcarcely neceffary to cite that well-known paf. 
fage in Virgil, 

Sum phis vEneas, raptos qui ex hofle penates 
Claffe veho mecum ; 

yet it will be highly corroborative of his fuc- 
ceeding affertion, that the Cabin and Dii 
Penates were of kindred origin, to bring be- 
fore the view of the reader another paffage in 
the JEneid, where Augufttis, under the joint 
protection of the Penates and Dii Magni, is 
reprefented as leading his troops to battle 
againft thofe of Anthony and Cleopatra : 

Hinc Auguftus, agens Italos in praelia, Cseiar, 
Cum patribus, populoque, Penatibus et Magnh D?s s 
Stans celfa in puppi. 

^Eneid, lib. viii. 678. 

But this was not the firfl period of the in-? 
trodudlion of this notion at Rome : the fa- 
mous triple figures of fylvan deities dug up in 
Italy, and called by antiquaries Hetsuscan, 
are proofs of this affertion. In moft of thofe 
countries, where the Romans extended their 
arms and propagated their theology, the num- 
ber three was confidered as facred, and a divine 
Triad was worshipped. In the 54th plate of 
Montfaucon's Supplement, in his account of 

Gaulic 



[ 343 ] 

Gaulic Antiquities, may be feen affemblages 
of deities in triple groups. In one of thefe 
groups it is not a little remarkable that the 
centre figure hath flioes on his feet, as if of 
fupenor "dignity; the other two figures, as if 
fubordinate, are bare-footed. In Gruter, too, 
may be feen deities in triple groups, wor- 
shipped by the ancient Germans, which they 
called Mair^; and one is thus infcribed: 
In honor em Domus div'mm Mis Mairabus; in 
honour of the divine house to the goddefTes 
Maine. Thefe goddeffes were, indeed, rural 
deities, as were the triple Sulev./e and Va- 
Callineh je, alluded to before, of the He- 
trufci ; but this notion is eafily to be accounted 
for in the debafed theology of thofe who made 
the Earth the grand primeval deity, and 
adored it under the female form of Cybele, 
the mother of gods and men. From thefe 
additional inftances we fee how remarkably, 
throughout all the periods of antiquity, this 
humour of dividing every thing into three 
difplayed itfelf ; and whence, except from the 
fource from which I have derived it, could 
this general, but mutilated, tradition of a triune 
God have originated ? The Fates, thoie re- 
lentlcfs fitters who weave the web of human 
life, and fix the inevitable doom of mortals, 
v . were 



[ 344 3 

were three \ the Furies, the dire difpenfers of 
the vengeance of heaven for crimes committed 
upon earth, were three - 9 the Qraces, who 
were honoured as divinities, and had a thou- 
fand altars and temples ere&ed to them in 
Greece, were three j and the celeftial Muses, 
according to Varro, were originally included 
in the fame folemn and myfterious number, 



CHAPTER 



[ 345 ] 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Persian Trinity invefigated. — It confified 
of three allegorical Perfonages y denominated 
Oromasdes, Mithras, and Ahriman. — 
Their re/pecJive Office and Attributes defcribed. 
— Mithras himfelf often denominated Tri- 
plasios, or Threefold i fometimes the Me- 
diator. — The DotJrine patriarchal^ origi- 
nating from the Conviclion that Man is a 
fallen Creature, wanting a Mediator. — • 
Hence the Stars and Planets, or, at leaf, 
the Genii that guided their Orbs, conjidered as 
Mediatorial alfo, and on this Bafs the Sabi an 
Superjlition erecled itfelf. — The Daphnic 
Fejlival of Greece. — Remarkable Refemblance 
between the Perfian Ahriman, the Indian 
Seeva, and the Egyptian Typhon. — The 
Battle of the Gods an agronomical Allegory of 
the ancient Perfians* — The Ajfertion, that the 
Idea of a T rinity in the Divine E fence was 
frjl introduced into the Church by -Piatonizing 
Chrijlians.falfejinge this patriarchal Dijlinc- 

lion 



[ 346 ] 

thn in the Godhead was immcmor tally diffufed 
through all the Greater Asia. 

\ \ 7E come now, in the progrefs of our 
% ¥ extenfive inveftigation, to confider the 
veftiges of this dofirine, which is all that is 
contended for, fmce, in its true character and 
undepraved purity, it exifts only in the Chrif- 
tian world, among the ancient Perfians ; and 
we find thofe indubitable, though corrupted, 
veftiges remaining in their three great 
deities, Oromafdes, Mithra, and Ahrirnan. 
Of thefe deities, indeed, two are fubordinate 
and finite, and their difpofitions and attributes 
are reprefented as various, and even oppofite. 
But I have not undertaken fo much to account 
for its perverfion, as to record and afcertain the 
fact of this notion of a Triad of Deity 
being radically interwoven in the theological 
codes adopted in aim oft every region of Afia - 9 
Afia, where the fublime fyftem of the true 
religion was fir ft revealed, where the pure 
precepts it inculcates were firft praftifed, and 
where unhappily its leading principles were 
earlieft adulterated. The Almighty, however, 
hath not left himfelf without a witnefs amidft 
the degrading fuperftitions and the falfe phi- 
lofophy of the degenerate Afiatics. 

In 



[ 347 1 

In examining the Perfian Triad, the firft 
diftinguiihing feature which prefents itfelf to 
our view, and which muft irrefiftibly attrad 
the notice, and excite the wonder, of even the 
fceptic to the more exalted Triad of Chris- 
tianity, is, the character of Mithra, the mid- 
dle God, who is called the Mediator. Mo# 
the idea of a Mediator could alone originate in 
a confcioufnefs of committed crimes, as well 
as a dread of merited punifhment, and the 
firft dawn of a Mediator among mankind 
darted into the mind of Adam, after he had 
committed the great tranfgreffion which exiled 
him from Paradife, and after his beneficent 
Judge had declared that the feed of the woman 
fhould bruife the head of the ferpe?tt. It was 
this glorious, but remote, profpeft of the 
grand interceffor of the human race, to appear 
in the due time of Omnipotent Wifdom, that 
made exile tolerable to our parents, and dis- 
armed that death, which they were doomed 
foon to undergo, of all its novel and ghaftly 
horrors. It was this hope of a fpotlefs Me- 
diator to emerge from the dark bofom of fu- 
turity, that animated the minds of the patri- 
archs during their toilfome migrations through- 
out the Eait, and, under all their persecutions, 
from age to age fuftained, and ftill fuftains, 

the 



[ 348 ] 

the fpit it of the virtuous among the He- 
brews. Infatuated men, your Mediator is 
arrived ! Hear, and obey the fummons of 
your God ! ! ! 

Far beyond ail the periods to which human 
annals afcend, mankind have been uniformly 
imprefled with the notion that they are fallen ■ | 
creatures. The conviction of their being fpirits 
degraded from their original rank in the 
creation, forms the bafts of the Melempfychofis 
©f the Indians, a people only fecond in anti- 
quity of all the nations upon the earth. 
Whence could this univerfal idea of corrupted j 
nature and degraded ftation originate, but in 
fame obfcure traditions of the fall, handed 
down, through a long revolution of ages, from 
the parent of the human race? Whence could 
this univerfal belief in reftoration to primitive 
purity to be obtained through the means of a 
Media-tor, whether Mithra or Veefhnu, a rife, 
except from the fame genuine though diftant 
fource ? Fatally for the happinefs of mankind, 
a mid ft the rapid growth of crimes on the 
one hand, and the gradual increafe of fu- 
perftition on the other, though the confciouf- 
nefs of their degeneracy remained, the know- 
ledge of the true Mediator was erafed from 
their minds, 

While 



[ 349 1 

While hardened Vice, however, openly 
braved the vengeance of the Ikies, humble 
and timorous Piety ftill lifted to heaven, in 
filence, the imploring eye, and extended, with 
diffident hope, the fuppliant hand. The awful, 
the immenfe, diftance of the fupreme ail- 
ruling Intelligence, whom they fuppofed to 
have his throne on the extreme verge of ex- 
iftence in the central abyfs of light and glory, 
•and, though not totally regardlefs of terreftrial 
concerns, inacceffible, except by beings of a 
more pure and elevated nature, induced them 
to explore the setberial regions for interceffors 
among the higher and nobler orders of created 
beings. The devotion of the Chaldeans to 
aftronomy, and their confequent veneration 
of the hoft of heaven, has been repeatedly no- 
ticed : it was not, however, to the orb itfelf, 
but to the fpirit which was thought to refide 
in that orb, to be the foul of it, and to direct 
its courfe through the expanfe of heaven, that 
they addreffed their prayers. They nattered 
themfelves with the hope that thofe benign 
fpirits would aft as their Mediators with the 
Supreme Power, whofc nature they but ob- 
fcurely comprehended, at whofe majefty they 
trembled, and from whofe vengeance they 
fluunk: and that, if they proved propitious, 

they 



[ 35° ] 

they would have influence enough to fufpend 
his wrath and appeafe his vengeance. For 
the truth of what I have thus afferted, I frail 
produce in evidence two very high authorities ; 
the firft is the celebrated Rabbi Maimonides, 
who, in the More Nevochim, treating con- 
cerning the origin of the Sabian fuperftition, 
expreffly informs us, f< that the propagators 
of it acknowledged one fupreme Numen, the 
Creator of heaven and earth; but that the 
refidence of his majeftic prefence was in a re- 
gion fo remote from the earth as to be in- 
acceffible to mortals: that therefore, in -imita- 
tion of the condud adopted by the fubje£ls of 
terreftrial monarchs, they engaged, as Me- 
diators with him, the planets and the guar- 
dian fpirits that direft their courfe, whom 
they denominated princes and nobles, and 
whom they imagined to refide in thofe orbs as 
in fumptuous palaces and fplendid formes."* 
The fecond proof of the above affertion is to 
be found in the very curious information re- 
lative to the Chaldaic worfhip of the planets, 
tranfmitted down to us in the authentic page 
of Diodoius, and purpofely omitted by me in 
the preceding account of the fuperftitious 
pradices of that people, becaufe I thought it 

better 

# See Maimonides, More Nevochim, part iil cap. 29. 



I 

I : " • I m J - 

I better calculated to illuftrate the prefent fub- 
; jeft of the Perfian Triad of Deity. 
I The Chaldeans, according to this author, 
i were of opinion that the fun, the moon, and 
I the five planets, were the principal intelli- 
| gences miniftering to the Supreme Deity ; and 
that, under the direction of thofe planets, 
| were thirty ftars, whom they called m\m® 
\ ®m> Counfelling Gods i fifteen of which oh- 
I ferved what was tranfafted under the earth, 
f and the other fifteen what paffed upon the 
earth and in the region above it. Thefe thirty 
ftars, they affirmed, were ftationed in the great 
circle of the zodiac, but that twelve of them 
were of principal note, among which the 
planets more immediately revolved. Twelve 
of thefe ftars towards the north pole, and 
twelve towards the fouth pole, they honoured 
with the title of Judges of all Things, and 
affigned thofe that we fee to the living, and 
thofe that we do not fee to the dead. Two of 
thefe ftars they confidered as mefiengers, and 
affirmed, that, once in every ten days, one of 
the higheft order defcended to them that were 
of the loweft order ; and again, that, after the 
fame interval, one from the loweft order 
afce.nded to thofe of the fuperior order ; and 
this in alternate fucceffion. By this means the 

Counfelling 



[ 352 ] 

Counfelling Gods above the horizon were 
fourteen in number, with an attendant dyys\o^ 
or meffenger, which is the true meaning of 
the word dyysXog-, and exa£ily the fame num- 
ber remained below the horizon** 

It would, however, be allowing too much 
even to the defervedly eminent Maimonides, 
and the accurate Diodorus, were we to affert 
that the Sabian idolaters had invariably, for 
the ultimate objeft of their addreffes to the 
planetary angels, the Supreme Creator. No$ 
they gradually forgot the Deity, invifible and 
inacceffible, in the dazzling fplendor of the 
orb itfelf, and in the imagined influences dif- 
penfed by the faming heralds of the divinity. 
The sun himfelf, in time, became the Deity 
they adored, and the moon and ftars his 
miniflers and attributes. In Paufanias, there 
is recorded an account of a famous Grecian 
feftival, celebrated among the Boeotians, in 
honour of Apollo, at the end of every nine 
years, and called Aa$ng$ip*tt, which will ferve 
as a pointed illuftration of the preceding affer- 
tion. Upon the top of an olive-branch, 
adorned with garlands of laurel, (both, it is 
to be obferved, confecrated woods,) and va- 
rious kinds of flowers, they placed a large 

globe 

* Vide Diod, Siculus, lib. ii, p. 117, edit, Rhodomanni. 



[ 353 ] 

globe of brafs, from which were fufpended 
feveral fmaller globes; about the middle of 
the branch were fixed purple crowns, and a 
globe a degree lefs in diameter than that which 
ornamented the top ; the bottom was covered 
v/ith a garment of a faffron colour. By the 
great globe on the fummit, fays Paufanias, 
they fymbolized the sun, that is to fay, 
Apollo ; by the fmaller globe dire&ly under 
it, they intended to reprefent the moon ; by 
the globes fufpended from that at the top 
were fignified the stars; while the crowns, 
being in number 365, reprefented that of the 
days in which he performed his annual revo- 
lution. The bough, thus adorned, was car- 
ried about in proceffion by a youth felefted 
for the occafion : he was obliged to be in the 
full vigour of his age, of noble parents, and 
beautiful afpeft; his hair was difhevelled, 
doubtlefs, to reprefent the rays of the fun j he 
was apparelled in a fumptuous robe that 
reached down to his ancles ; a rich crown of 
gold adorned his head, and coftly fandals of a 
particular fafhion, called iphicratid<z % from 
Iphicratides the inventor of them, covered his 
feet. This noble youth, for that day, executed 
the office of the pried of Apollo, and was ho- 
noured with the title of AoKpvytpogog, or the 

Z laurel- 



[ 354 1 

laurel-bearer. A rod, (imitative of the folar 
beam,) richly decorated with garlands, was 
borne before him, and a chorus of virgins, 
(poffibly typifying the hours,) bearing branches 
of laurel in their hands, followed him. In 
this order they proceeded to the temple of 
Apollo, furnamed Ifmenius, where hymns and 
fupplications to the god terminated the fefti- 
val,* By fuch delightful allegories as thefe 
did the genius of antiquity fhadow out the 
operations of nature, and imprefs upon the 
admiring fpeclator the myfterious truths of 
theology. 

From the preceding ftatement, it is evident 
that the ancients acknowledged a Mediator to 
be neceflary and Mithra, we have feen in the 
Perfian theology, was that mediatorial and 
middle god. It was doubtlefs this notion of 
the neceflity of a Mediator between God and 
man, or rather this tradition of one, appointed 
in the promife that " the feed of the woman 
ihould finally crufh the ferpent," that firfl in- 
duced the Perfians to look upon the Sun 
that Mediator, and to confer on him the title 
of Mediatorial* 

It fhould be obferved too, that this notion 
of Mithra as a mediatorial God was not con- 
fined 



* Paufanias in Eceoticis, 



[ 355 1 

fined to the bofom of the prieft, or locked up 
in the creed of the initiated; it was fo uni- 
verfally known, and fo generally the fubjea 
of belief, " that the Perfians are affirmed by 
Plutarch, from this very character of their god 
Mithras, to have called any Mediator, or middle 
perfon between two, by the name of Mithras 

But there was another very remarkable 
epithet that applied to the god Mithras by the 
ancients, which, in this review of the Pagan 
Trinities, deferves our particular notice and 
inquiry. This epithet was T ? »*x«neff, or 
threefold; and here I cannot avoid once more 
remarking it as a circumftance that muft be 
peculiarly perplexing to the oppugncrs of the 
facred doctrine contended for, that, whatfoever 
perfonage the ancients thought proper to exalt 
to the rank of a divinity, they immediately 
found out for that divinity either three pro- 
perties, or three qualities, which they made a 
diftinguiffiing mark of the Godhead they thus 
prefumptuoufly conferred. 

In the fame manner, if they treated con. 
cerning the world, which indeed they fome- 
times elevated to divine honours, they made a 
threefold partition of it j or rather they 
2 2 conceived 

* Plutarch, de Hide et OCride, p. 43> 



I 



[ 35* 1 

t ■ j 

conceived three worlds, and diftinguifhcd them 
by the appellation of the fenfible, the aerial, 
and the atherial, by which latter term they 
muft ever be confidered as meaning the Akass 
of the Indians. To thefe worlds again they 
affigned three principal properties, Figure, 
Light, and Motion; Matter, Form, and I 
Energy * So, in fucceeding ages, the Jewifh 
rabbies divided the human nature into -srvBupx, 
the fpirit j fyvyjn, the animal foul ; and cupx, 
the corporeal vehicle. 

In regard to this epithet of Triplafios, 
Dionyfius, the Pfeudo-Areopagite, in his fe- 
venth epiftle to Polycarp, fays, Km tlcrsrt 
WL&yoi rcc fJLVTipca-vvcc tm Tgi7r\ccoriv Mt&fjv tbXxctiv : j 
Or, <{ the Perfian Magi to this very day cele- 
brate a feilival folemnity in honour of the Tri- 
plafian, or triplicated, Mithras.'* Dr. Cud- 
worth remarks on this paffage, that, as this 
title has been but very ill accounted for by the ! 
ancients, it cannot well be otherwife interpreted 
than ts as a manifeft indication of a higher 
myftery, viz. a Trinity of the Perfian theology; 
which Gerard Voffius would willingly under- 
ftand, according to the Chriftian hypothefis, 
of a divine Trinity, or three hypoftafes in one 
and the fame Deity, whofe diftindtive cha- 

radiers 

* See Kircher, torn, i, p. 144 to p. 151, and torn, ii. p. 192. 



[ 357 1 

raaers are Goodnefs, Wifdom, and Power."* 
In addition and corroboration of what Dr. 
Cudworth has faid, I muft remark, that, in 
all the ancient monuments on which Mi t bra 
is fculptured, three perfons are invariably de- 
fignated, himfelf in the centre, and the two 
others, generally, on each fide of him ; as they 
appear on the illuftrative engraving of that 
divinity, which I have prefented to the reader 
from Dr. Hyde's Treafure of Perfian theolo- 
gical Antiquities. But, what is flail more re- 
markable, the fupreme god Ormuzd, or, as 
the Greeks foftened down the word, Oromafdes, 
is by Plutarch faid to triplicate himfelf in the 
fame manner; 'tyopufyg T^Uvrcvav^a-as 9 
" Oromafdes thrice augmented himfelf."f 
Without, therefore, at all introducing Ahri- 
man into the Perfian Triad, we have in theffe 
accounts of the ancients, relative to the two 
fuperior hypoftafes, fufficient evidence to 
evince that the Perfians were by no means 
deftitute of ideas on the fubjeft, fimilar to 
thofe of their Oriental neighbours. The true 
charafterof Ahriman, however, Dr. Cudworth 
items to think has been generally ruiftaken by 
Z 3 mythologies, 

* See Cudvvorth's Intelleftual Syftem, vol. i. page 285, edit, 
Birch. 

f Plutarch, de Ifide et Ofiride, torn. ii. p. 37»- Opera. 



[ 35^ ] 

mythologies, and indeed he appears to me to 
referable the Seeva of India, who, it has been 
obferved, is only the Deity in his deftroying 
and regenerative capacity, far more than the 
malignant Typhon of Egypt. Dr. Cudworth 
conjectures, that, by Ahrirnan, is to be under- 
flood not fo much an evil principal co-eternal 
with the good principle, and ever hoftile to 
his benevolent purpofes, as afierted by Plu- 
tarh, and as afterwards reprefented by the 
Manichasan heretics but that, by this diftinc- 
tion, and by this perfonification, they meant 
to point out to us a certain mixture of Evil 
and Darknefs, together with Good and Light, 
which they imagined to exift in the com- 
pofition of this lower world, and that they 
reprefented their conceptions by this allegori- 
cal perfonification ; that Ahrirnan was in fad: 
a Deity, but fornewhat fubordinate in rank 
and ftation, refembling the Pluto of the 
Greeks ; and this opinion of Ahrirnan, being 
both fubordinate and finite, is very coincident 
with the ft ate m en t of Dr. Hyde on this fub- 
jeft. 

An ample inveftigation of the character of 
Ahrirnan would be more proper for a differta- 
tion on the grofs phyfics than the purer 
theology of Afia j and, indeed, towards the 

cloft 



[ 359 1 

clofe of the preceding chapter, his real cha- 
racter and functions; under the name of his 
prototype, Seeva, have been already inveftigated 
at confiderable length. The parallel between 
the attributes and properties of Ahnman and 
thofe of the Indian deftroyer, I had intended 
to referve for the chapter on Hindoo litera- 
ture • but as I know not when that treatife 
may 'appear, and as the iketch may afford my 
readers a fiiil deeper infight into the iy ftem 
both of Oriental phyiics and morality, I fhall, 
in this place, briefly delineate the features of 
that imaginary chafer, the .deftruftive and 
regenerative power of God performed, to 
which the ancient Perfians and Indians gave 
the name of Ahriman and Seeva. To delineate 
them properly, in all their variety of light and 
fhade, would require a large volume ; and it is 
a fubjeft fo curious and fo intereftmg, tnat 
poffibly, a large volume on that topic would 
not excite difguft. I mall, however, compre.s 
my obfervations within the moft contracted 
limits poffible, that may be confident with 

perfpicuity. 

Arguing from analogy, and guided by what 
we have already obferved, relative to that deep 
tinge which the phyfical and aftronomical 
fpeculations of the ancients have given to all 
Z 4 Aliatic 



[ 36o ] 

Afiatic theology, we may fairly conclude that 
a great part of the properties and attributes of 
both Ahriman and Seeva may be explained by 
Natural Hiftory and Aftronomy. The whole 
hypothefis, indeed, appears to be nothing more 
than an ingenious detail of the Good and Evil, 
alternately predominating in this terreftrial 
globe, and the Light and Darknefs that fuc- 
ceffively prevail in the two hemifpheres. If 
the fuperior hemifphere is illuminated by light 
perfonified by Ormuzd, a Perfian title, which 
means the primaeval light, before the folar orb 
was formed, and which the Greeks foftened 
down to Oromafdes ; if nature is invigorated 
by the fun, Mithra, the parent of fertility; fo 
is the fphere of the moral world irradiated by 
the beam of religion, and cheriflied by the 
luftre and energic influence of virtue. Good- 
nefs and Light create and preferve ; and, in 
this refle&ion, we have direft indications of 
the origin of the refpeftive characters of the 
Indian deities, Brahma and Veefhnu. On the 
other hand, Evil and Darknefs defolate and 
deftroy; and, therefore, are perfonified by 
Ahriman and Seeva; but, from evil, or what 
is called and appears to be evil, though in 
fa£l only a lefs degree of attainable good, 
arifing from change of place or circumftance, 

fupreme 



[ 36i ] 

fupreme and unforefeen felicity frequently re~ 
fults: while from the apparent -dejlrufiion of 
one being, another new-modified fprings up, 
as in the dying vegetable the feeds of new life 
are contained, and generation vigoroufly ger- 
minates from the very bed and bofom of pu- 
trefaction. 

Such is the folution of the allegory, confi- 
dered in a phyfical, a moral, and theological, 
light. Underftood in an aftronsmical point of 
view, from which* however, it is impoffible 
wholly to feparate their theology, this Eaftern 
fable prefents to our fight Ormuzd, or Mithra, 
the fupreme deity of the upper hemifphere, 
the 'AyuBoSottfiiov of Perfia, for permanent vigour 
and undecaying youth, fymbolized by the 
ferpent that annually fheds its fkin, and flou- 
rifties, as it were, in life's perpetual fpring : it 
prefents to our fight, I fay, on the one hand, 
Mithra, attended by a train of bright, that is, 
benignant, angels, by which the Perfians meant 
the planets and ftars perfonified, the radiant 
hoft of heaven, which, during the progrefs of 
the fun through the fummer-figns, attend his 
car, and fparkle unfeen around the throne of 
their chieftain. On the other hand, this aftro- 
nomical view of the fubjecT; exhibits to us 
Ahriman, or Darknefs, perfonified and fym- 
bolized 



II 

bolized by the great celeftial ferpent, or 
dragon of the Ikies, the KmeMtfwv, or evil 
genius of Perfia, who is, as we have feen, the 
everlafting obje£t of dread and horror to the 
Indians, leading up to battle againft his mor- , 
tal enemy the folar god, who reigns in the I 
fuperior hemifphere, his fable train of malig- [ 
nant angels, or evil genii, that is, the ftars of 
the inferior hemifphere, marfhailed in dire [ 
array, and ftill more awfully formidable from 
the darknefs that envelopes them. There is a 
remarkable paffage in Plutarch, which will 
greatly elucidate the hypothecs j uft mentioned, L 
of the fix-fummer figns, headed by Oromafdes, 
contending againft the fix winter-figns led on 
m battle by the great Draco, or dragon, of 
the celeftial fphere ; that Draco, whofe ftation 
in the heavens is fixed on high amidft the 
gloomy regions of the north pole, where his 
vaft body forms a in oft confpicuous conftella- 
tion, and is therefore well calculated to be the 
mighty chieftain of the arftic figns. <£ Oro- 
mafdes/' fays Plutarch, <c created fix gods, the 
fix fummer-figns of the zodiac, good and be- 
1 nevolent, like himfelfj Ahriman created, and 
oppofed to them, fix other gods, the wintry 
figns, dark and malignant, refembling his own 
nature. Oromafdes created alfo twenty-four 

other 



[ 363 ] 

! other gods, all of which he inclofed inan egg, 
I that is, the Mundane Egg, that maft ancient 
fymbol by which Indians, Perfians, and 
' Egyptians, alike fhadowed out the univerfe ; 
Ahriman, likewiie, formed his twenty-four 
other gods, which were inclofed in the fame 
egg. Now, by the twenty-four gods created 
I by Oromafdes," added to the twenty-four made 
I by Ahriman, are meant the forty-eight great 
conftellations into which the ancients, as be- 
fore obferved from Ulug Beg, divided the 
viable heavens. The turbulent deities, made 
by Ahriman, broke the egg in which they 
were depofited, and, from that unhappy mo- 
[ ment, Good and Evil, Darknefs and Light, 
became promifcuoufly blended in that uni- 
verfe of which the egg was the expreffive 
fymbol."* 

It was, undoubtedly, this mixture of phyfi- 
cal and aftronomical fpeculation, the eternal 
contentions of thefe two adverfe champions, 
Light and Darknefs, blended together, with 
fome obfcure traditions of the revolt of the an- 
gelic bands, of the fall of man, and the contefts 
\ of the great patriachal families of Shem and 
Ham for the empire of the infant -world, that 
gave birth to the celebrated dodxine, fo widely 

diffufed 

« Vide Plutarch, de I£de et Ofiride, p. 63. 



i 



[ 3^4 ] 

diffufed throughout the Oriental world, of the 
two principles of Good and Evil. We fee this 
do£lrine perpetually difplaying itfelf in all the 
theological and metaphyficai writings of the* 
Pagan philofophers, and, as has been before 
obferved, even in periods comparatively rcent, 
it continued to flourish, in many parts of Afia, 
in the depraved fuperftition of the Mani- 
chaeans. In Egypt, we have feen that the 
whole fyftem of the national religion turned 
upon this bafis : every thing that was wonder- 
ful and ftupendous in nature ; whatever events 
in the courfe of Almighty Providence either 
infpired the foul with affeftion and gratitude, 
or impreffed it with apprehenfion and horror, 
were refolved into the various operations of 
the benevolent Ofiris and the malignant Ty- 
phon.* Thefe two principles are reprefented 
as eternally contending together for the em- 
pire of the fublunary fphere ; and there is a 
curious fymbolical print in Montfaucon,-^ 
by which the ever-allegorizing fons of Miz- 
raim fhadowed out thefe contefts, of which I 
have in this volume prefented the reader with 
an engraving. Thefe principles, undoubtedly 

of 

* See Hyde's Hill. Rel. Yet. Perf. p. 160. 

f See Montfaucon, Antiquite Expliquee, vol. ii. part 2, 
plate 56. 



[ 365 ] 

of Perfian origin, are in that print reprefented 
by two ferpents raifed ered: upon their tails, 
oppofite to each other, and darting looks of 
^mutual rage : the one, who reprefents the 
good principle, and may be confidered as the 
ferpent Cnuphis* who, I have obferved, had a 
temple in Upper Egypt, holds in its mouth an 
egg, that ancient fymbol of the created world, 
very common in Egypt and Greece, and s as 
my future hiftory of the Indian cofmogony 
will demonftrate, by no means unknown in 
Hindoftan : the other, who may be confidered 
as the evil principle, appears with its expanded 
jaws eager to feize upon, and tear from its 
rival, the egg for which they fo fiercely con- 
tend. 

In India, very plain traits of the fame aftro- 
nomical fyftem are vifible in the contefts of 
the good and evil Dewtahs, that is, the ftars 
perfonified, waging againft each other per- 
petual war to obtain the empire of the 
agitated globe. Hence it is, that, in Mr. Hal- 
hed's fine edition of the Mahabbarat, illuftrated 
with emblematical paintings, the Soors, or 
good Genii, the offspring of Surya, the Sun, 
are painted of a white colour j while the 
Assoors, or children of darknefs, who tenant 
the gloomy regions of the north pole, are 

conftantly 



[ 3^6 |] 

conftantly denized black. In the perfons of 
Veefhnu and Seeva, not only phyfical good 
and evil are inceflantly oppofed, and their re- 
fpeftive followers inflamed with relentlefs fury 
againft each other, but from the crefcent, 
which, according to Mr. Wilkins, adorns, at 
Benares, the ftarry crown on the ftatue of this 
god, his aftronomical attributes, and his con- 
nexion with the no&urnal hemifphere, are 
evidently pointed out.* Veefhnu rides upon 
his Garoori, or eagle, a bird ever facred to the 
fun ; and poffibly this eagle is the fame with 
the Aquila of the celeftial fphere, one of the 
ancient forty-eight great conftellations; while 
the bull of Seeva may have as intimate relation 
to the Taurus of that fphere. It is by no 
means inaptly faid, that Seeva fhould have 
command over the hoft of heaven, fince, if I 
may quote a very applicable paffage in a very 
excellent aftronomer, Mr. Keill, fpeaking of 
the rife and extindtion of the fixed ftars r in- 
forms us, that " the principle of generation 
and corruption is widely difFufed through 
nature; it reaches even the mo ft diftant/^i 
Jlars y and all the bodies of the univerfe are 
under its dominion. n + 

» See Mr. Wilkins's Notes upon the Geeta. 
f Keill's Agronomy, p. 55, 8vo. edit. 1769. 



[ 3 6 7 1 

To the arguments which I have before pro- 
duced towards eftablifliing the authenticity of 
thofe portions of the Chaldaic oracles, which 
were tranfmitted down to us by writers who 
were ignorant of, or hoftile to, the Chriftian 
religion, I fhall now add the following very 
particular and pertinent paffage in Plutarch, a 
Greek philofopher, who could draw no part of 
his theology from Chriftianity, and was fo far 
from being friendly to a Triad of Deity, that 
he is generally fuppofed to be a ftrong advo- 
cate for the do&rine of true principles. Plu- 
tarch, however, gives this ftrong fupport to 
what I have afferted relative to the opinions 
of Zoroafter. <c Zoroafter is faid to have 
made a threefold diftribution of things: to 
have afligned the firft and higheft rank to 
Oromafdes, who, in the oracles, is called the 
Father ; the lowed to Ahrimanes ; and the 
middle to Mithras ; who, in the fame oracles, 
is called rov SbVVjoV N ^'> the fecond Mind."* 
The fentiments thus imputed to Zoroafter 
muft have come to Plutarch, who was bora 
in the firft century of the Chriftian aera, at a 
remote city in Bceotia, from fome other quar- 
ter than a gnoftic heretic, and his reprefcnta- 
tion is certainly entitled to more refpecl than 

even 

• Vide Plutarch, de I fide et Ofiride, p. 376. 



[ 368 ] 

even Proclus, who was born in the year 410 
of that sera, or Damafcius, who did not flou- 
rifti till fo late a period as the fixth century. 
Plutarch cites this paflage, to mark the ftrong 
feature of refemblance exifting between the 
Zoroaftrian and the Platonic Triad of Deity, 
which would not have been the cafe had the 
learned of Greece generally conceived that the 
idea of fuch a Triad had folely originated in 
the fchool of Plato. I hope, however, finally 
to prove that the Zoroaftrian fchool is the 
Indian fchool. One grand fyfteni of theology 
In thofe remote periods pervaded the Greater 
Alia 5 and if we fhould hereafter, as we douht- 
lefs fhall, find the fyftem already formed, and 
the do£lrine flourifhing in that country and 
Thibet five hundred years before Plato was 
born, the outcry of its being entirely the fa- 
brication of Plato, and of its being introduced 
into the church by Juftin Martyr, an admirer 
of Plato, in the fecond century, muft hence- 
forth ceafe. In fad, at that very period, and 
even at the diftance of twice that period, the 
fymbols of it were elevated and adored by the 
Brahmins in the deep foreft of Naugracut, 
and fculptured in the facred caverns of Ele- 
phanta: they were ftamped on a thoufand 
coins and engraved on a thoufand gems j they 

decorated 



I 369 3 

decorated the tiara of the prieft; they were 
interwoven in the purple robe of the judge, 
and fparkled on the rubied fceptre of the 
prince. Let us now, then, turn our eye eaft- 
ward, to that country which is aflerted, by 
fome enraptured admirers of the religion, po- 
licy, and manners, of the Indians, to have 
been the cradle of mankind and the nurfe of 
rifing fcience. 



Aa CHAPTER 



[ 37* 1 



CHAPTER V. 



The "Trinity of India di [cuffed. — Compofed of 
the three allegorical Perfonages^ Brahma, 
Veeshnu, and Seeva. — Immemorially repre* 
fented by a triple fculptured Image \ having one 
Body but three Heads. — Each Figure bearing 
in its Hands Symbols peculiarly defcriptive of 
its feparate Function and Attributes, as the 
Creator, the Preserver, and Regene- 
rator, of Mankind. — Thus defgnated in the 
Cavern of Elephanta, the JEra of whofe 
Fabrication runs back to the' patriarchal Ages: 
Mofl probably^ therefore, the Idea originated 
in a Corruption of the patriarchal Doclrine 
on this Point. — The triliteral Word A U M 
allujive to this myflical Union of the three 
principal Deities. — Jl/uf rations and Proofs 
from various Oriental Writers and Tra- 
vellers. 

OF exquifite workmanfhip, and of ftu-, 
pendous antiquity ; antiquity to which 
neither the page of hiftory nor human tradi- 
A a 2 ttons 



[ 37^ ] 

tions can afcend ; that magnificent piece of 
fculpture, fo often alluded to, in the cavern of 
Elephanta, decidedly eftablifties the folemu 
fa&, that, from the rempteft aeras, the Indian 
nations have adored a triune Deity. There 
the traveller with awe and aftonifhment be r 
holds, carved out of the folid rock, in the 
xnoft confpicuous part of the raoft ancient 
and venerable temple pf the world, a buft f ex- 
panding in breadth near twenty feet, and nq 
lefs than eighteen feet in altitude, by which 
amazing proportions, as well as by its gor- 
geous decorations, it is known to be the image 
of the grand prefiding Deity of that hallowed 
retreat : he beholds, I fay, a buft compofedof 
three heads united to one body, adorned with 
the oldeft fymbols of the Indian theology, and 
thus exprefsly fabricated, according to the 
unanimous confeffion of the facred facerdotal j 
tribe pf India, to indicate the Creator, the 
Preserver, and the Regenerator, pf man- 
kind. I confider the fuperior antiquity of the 
Elephanta temple to that of Salfette, as efta- 
blidied by the circumftance of its flat roof, 
proving it to have been excavated before man- 
kind had difcpvered the art of turning the 
majeftic arch, and giving the lofty roof that 
pncave form which adds fo greatly to the 

grandeuf 



t 373 1 

grandeur of the Salfette temple. The very 
fame circumftance, I may repeat, is an irre- 
fragable argument in favour of the high anti- 
quity of the ftru&ures of the Thebais, through 
the whole extent of which no arch, nor vault- 
ed dome, meets the eye, perpetually difgufted 
with the unvaried uniformity of the flat roof, 
and the incumbent mafs of ponderous marble, 
never deviating from the horizontal to a cir- 
cular termination. M. Sonne rat thinks the 
pyramids of Egypt very feeble monuments of 
art and labour, if compared with the excava- 
tions of Salfette and Elora; the innumerable 
ftatues, bas-reliefs, and columns, he is of 
opinion, indicate a thoufand years of con- 
tinued labour; and, he adds, that the depra- 
dations of time mark at leaft an exiftence of 
three thoufand years*. To what sera, then, 
will he refer the ftili more ancient temple of 
Elephanta? To afcertain, indeed, precifely that 
sera, is impofliblej but, from various circum- 
ftances, recapitulated in many preceding pages, 
we are juftified in fixing it as near the deluge 
as the progrefs of fcience will allow us with 
propriety to fix it ; and the remarkable fimili- 
tude which its fculptures bear, both in their 
ftyle of defignation and ornaments, to thofe of 
A a 3 the 

f Sonnerat's Voyages, vol.i. p. 109. Calcutta printed, 



[ 374 1 

the Sabians of Chaldsea, has been demonftrated 
in the former volume. 

Although from the grofs alloy of phyfics, 
by which the refpective chara£ters of Brahma, 
Veefhnu, and Seeva, are degraded, any imme- 
diate parallel between thofe three perfonages, 
as at prefent conceived of in India, and the 
Chriftian Triad, cannot, without impiety, be 
made ; yet the joint worfhip paid to that triple 
divinity, in ancient times far more general and 
fervent than in the prefent, when the great 
body of the nation is fplit into fe6ts, adverfe 
in principles and hoftile in manners, incon- 
teftably evinces, that, on this point of faith, 
the fentiments of the Indians are congenial 
with thofe of their neighbours, the Chaldseans 
and Perfians. But it is not only in their grand 
Deity, reprefented by a bufl with three beads, 
that thefe fentiments are clearly demonftrated ; 
their veneration for that facred number 
ftrikingly difplays itfeif in their facred books, 
the three original Vedas, as if each had been' 
delivered by one perfonage of the auguft 
Triad, being confined to that myftic number ; 
by the regular and prefcribed offering up of 
their devotions three times a day; by the im- 
merfion of their bodies, during ablution, three 
times in the purifying wave > and by their 

conftantly 



[ 375 3 

conftantly wearing next their fkin the facred 
Zennar, or cord of three threads, the myftic 
fymbol of their belief in a divine all-ruling 
Triad.* The Indians, we may reft affured, 
are too wife and too confiderate a nation, to 
have adhered fo invariably to thefe rites and 
ceremonies without fome important incentive 
and fome myfterious allufion! 

The facred Zennar, which we have juft 
obferved, the tribe of Brahmins conftantly 
wear, deferves very attentive confideration. 
This facred cord can be woven by no profane 
hand ; the Brahmin alone can twine the hal- 
lowed threads that compofeit, and it is done 
hy him with the utmoft folemnity, and wxth 
the addition of many myftic rites. The man-, 
ner of performing the operation is thus mi- 
nutely defcribed in the Ayeen Akbery: — 
«' Three threads, each meafuring ninety-fix 
hands, are firft twifted together ; then they are 
folded into three, and twifted again, making it 
to confift of nine, that is, three times three 
threads ; this is folded again into three, but 
without any more twitting, and each end is 
then faftened with a 'knot (the Jod of the 
Hebrews). Such is the Zennar, which, being 
A a 4 P ut 

* See Indian Antiquities; vol. ii- P-97 5 ««* the ' Ayeen Ak- 
bery, vol. iii. p. 217. 



[ 376 ] 

put upon the left (houlder, partes to the right 
fide, and hangs down as low as the fingers can 
reach."* 

What, I would now afk, can be intended by 
all this myftic ceremonial, except they meant 
by it to fhadow out the clofe and myfterious 
union exifting between the facred perfons who 
form the Indian Triad? and why is the Zen- 
nar to be for ever worn next the fkin, but as 
a folemn and everlafting memorial of that 
Triad ? It may here be remarked, as a very 
curious and fomewhat parallel circumftance, 
that the Jews wear under their external gar- 
ments two fquare pieces of cloth, called Arba- 
kanfoth, or four corners ; the one covering 
the breaft, the other the back, to which the 
fringes, which they are commanded to wear 
by the Levitical law, " are fattened," fays the 
Jew Gamaliel, " after a peculiar manner, for 
myfterious realms," 

This Arba-kanfoth is what all Jews are 
commanded to be inverted with, and the veil 
which they wear in the Synagogue, being 
adorned with fringes after the fame manner, 
was originally inftituted to be worn during 
the prayers, to fupply the want of the Arba- 
kanfoth in fuch as had neglected to invert: 

themfelves 

* Ayeen Akbery, voJ.iii. p. 215. 



[ 377 1 

themfelves with it. 4 ' Thefe fringes they are 
obliged to kifs three times in the prayer of 
Wawyomer Adondi El Mo{heh> every time they 
exprefs the word fringe, which is three timet 
mentioned in the aforefaid commandment."* 
By fuch myfterious reafons as thefe, poffibly, 
the Brahmins are aftuated in the multifold 
windings of the facred threads that compofe 
the Zennar; but its three final divifions are 
undoubtedly in memory of the three-fold 
Deity they adore. 

Degraded infinitely, I muft repeat it, be- 
neath the Chriftian as are the characters of the 
Hindoo Trinity, yet, in our whole refearch 
throughout Afia, there has not hitherto oc- 
curred fo direct and unequivocal a defignation 
of a Trinity in Unity as that fculptured in 
the Elephanta cavern j nor is there any more 
decided avowal of the dodrine itfelf any where 
to be met with than in the following paffages 
of the Bhagvat-Geeta. In that moft ancient 
and authentic book, the fupreme Veefhnu 
thus fpeaks concerning himfelf and his divine 
properties : "lam the holy ONE worthy to 
be known :" he immediately adds, " I am the 
MYSTIC FIGURE OM } the Reig, the 

Yajush, 

* See the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Jews, fecond part, 
p. 6. 



[ 373 3 

Yajush, and the Saman Vedas." Geeta, j 
p. 80. Here we fee that Veefhnu fpeaks ex- j 
prefsly of his unity, and yet, in the very fame 
fentence, declares he is the myftic figure AUM, 
which three letters, the reader has been in- 
formed, from Sir William Jones,* coalefce 
and form the Sanfcreet word y OM, a word 
fimilar to the Egyptian ON, of which denomi- 
nation there were priefts ; a circumftance 
wWch proves to a demonftration that the 
ixiyfterious import of that word was known 
to the initiated of both nations. But he is, 
moreover, the three ancient and original Ve- 
das, or facred books of the Brahmins, the 
names of which, we have obferved from the 
fame author, likewife coalefce and form the 
word Rigyajuhsama. It may here be re- 
marked, that there cannot be a greater proof 
that the fourth, or Atharva Veda, is not au- 
thentic, than that only the three former Vedas 
are mentioned in this moft ancient produfitiou 
of the Hindoo hierarch, and that to elucidate 
the nature of the Deity. With refpeft to the 
difpofition and meaning of the letters which 
compofe this myftic fymboi of the Deity, I 
ftiall now farther add, from Mr. Wilkins, that 
« the firfl letter ftands for the Creator, the 

fecond 

* See Indian Antiquities, vol.ii. p. 69. 



[ 379 1 

fecond for the Preferver, and the third for the 
Deftroyer,"* that is, the Regenerator. Here, 
then, is exhibited a complete, though debafed, 
Triad of Deity, reprefented by three Sanfcreet 
letters, nearly in the fame manner as the He- 
brews reprefented the Trinity by the three 
Jods ; but, what is ftill more admirable, the 
awful name formed by thefe letters is, like the 
facred appellative imported by thofe Jods, for- 
bidden to be pronounced, but is meditated 
upon in facred and profound filence. Let me, 
however, fleer clear of the rock on which fo 
many preceding writers on Indian topics, and 
efpecially the raiffionaries, in their laudable 
anxiety to do honour to our holy religion, 
have ftumbled. x I do not affert that they ftole 
thofe notions, any more than they did their 
lofty ideas of the unity of God, from the 
books of Mofes in the firft place, or from the 
rabbies afterwards ; but it can fcarcely be 
doubted in what primaeval country the idea 
originated, and from the virtuous anceftors of 
what race (I mean the Chaldasan or Cuthite) 
the expreffive fyrnbol was borrowed. 

" The Hindoos," fays M. Sonnerat, <s adore 
three principal deities, Brouma, Chiven, and 
Vichenou, who are ftill but one $ which kind 

of 



* Notes on the Geeta, p. 1 42. 



[ 380 ] 

of Trinity is there called Trimourti, 6r Trit- 
vamz, and fignifies the re-union of three 
powers. The generality of Indians, at prefenty 
adore only one of thefe three divinities j but 
fome learned men, befide this worfhip, alfo 
addrefs their prayers to the three united. 
The reprefentation of them is to be feen in 
many pagodas, under that of human figures 
with three heads, which, on the coaft of 
Orifla, they call Sariharabrama ; on the 
Coromandel coaft, Trimourti and Tre- 
tratreyam in the Sanfcreet dialect in 
which dialed, I beg permiffion to add, that 
term would not have been found, had not the 
worfhip of a Trinity exifted in thofe ancient 
times, full two thoufand five hundred years 
ago, when Sanfcreet was the current language 
of India. But let M. Sonnerat proceed in his 
relation : " There are even temples entirely 
confecrated to this kind of Trinity ; fuch as 
that of Parpenade, in the kingdom of Tra- 
vancore, where the three gods are worfhipped 
in the form of a ferpent with a thoufand 
heads. The feaft of Anandavourdon, which 
the Indians celebrate to their honour, on the 
eve of the full moon, in the month of Pretachi, 
or Oflober, always draws a great number of 
people, which would not be the cafe, if thofe 

that 



[ 3Si ] 

that came were not adorers of the three 
powers."* Such is the account of M. Son- 
perat, colle&ed from fafts to which he was a 
witnefs, or from authentic information ob^ 
tained in India, whither he travelled^ at the 
expenfe of the king of France. There is, 
however, in his firft volume, a literal tranfla- 
tion from Sanfcreet of a Pooraun, which he 
denominates Candon, and in which the fol- 
lowing paflage, decifively corroborative of his 
fprmer aflertions, occurs. Though, in this 
paflage, it is plain that three attributes of the 
Deity are perfonified, yet the exad number of 
three only being felected, and their indivifible 
unity in the Indian Trimourti being fo ex- 
prefsly fpecified, evidently prove from what 
do&rine the fentiment originally flowed ; even 
from that moft ancient dparine, the per- 
verfion of which gave to Cbaldaea its three 
principles, to Mithrahis three properties, 
and thence his name of T^Xeta-tos ; which in- 
duced the Phoenician Taut to fabricate the 
celebrated mythological fymbol of the Circle, 
Serpent, and Wings ; and which affigned to 
Ofiris his two co-adjutors in the government 
of that world round which he is, on Egyptian 
jfculptures, allegorically reprefented as failing 



* Sonnerat's Voyages, voU. p. 4. Calcutta edition* 



[ 3«* 3 

in the facred Scyphus; himfelf in the middle, 
and Ifis and Orus at the two extremities. The 
paffage aJfeded to is as follows : "*It is God 
alone who created the univerfe by his produc- 
tive power, who maintains it by his all-pre- 
ferving power, and who will deftroy (or* re* 
generate) it by his deftrufitive (or regenera- 
tive) power ; fo that it is this God who is re*, 
prefented under the name of three gods, 
who are called Trimgurti."* On this paf, 
fage I fhall only make one remark, which is, 
that, if the Indians had originally intended to 
deify merely three attributes of God, they 
would, furely, have fixed on the three prin- 
cipal attributes of the Deity, which are Good-, 
ness, Wisdom, and Power, rather than his 
creative, his preferving, and his deftroying, 
faculty. Of thefe there was furely but little 
occafion to make three gods, fines he, who 
pofleffes the power to create, muft of ne- 
ceffity alfo poffefs the power to preserve and 

tO DESTROY. 

The Indians feem to have been, at fome 
time or other, fo ahforbed in this worfhip, 
that they have both varied and multiplied the 
fymbols and the images by which they de- 
fignated their Triad. Mr. Forfter, often cited 

* Sonnerat's Voyages, vol.i. p. 259, eadem e.di:. 



C 383 ] 

by me as an authentic fource of intelligence, 
becaufe the adtual fpe&ator, as well as the 
faithful reporter, of their numerous fu perfla- 
tions, in his Sketches of Hindoo Mythology, 
writes as follows : " One circumftance which 
forcibly ftruck my attention was, the Hindoo 
belief of a Trinity : The perfons are Sree 
Mun Narrain, the Maba Letcbimy* a beautiful 
woman, and a ferpent. Thefe perfons are, by 
the Hindoos, fuppofed to be wholly indi- 
vifiblej the one is three, and the three are 
one."* The facred perfons who compofe this 
Trinity are very remarkable; for, Sree Mun 
Narrain, as Mr. Forfter writes the word, is 
Narayen, the fupreme God: the beautiful 
woman is the Imma of the Hebrews ; and the 
union of the feses in the Divinity is perfe&ly 
confonant with that ancient do6lrine main- 
tained in the Geeta, and propagated by Or- 
pheus, that the Deity is both male and fe- 
male.^ The ferpent is the ancient and 
ufual Egyptian fymbol for the divine Logos, 
a fymbol of which the Saviour of the world 
himfelf did not difdain, in fome degree, to ad- 
mit the propriety, when he compared himfelf 

to 

* Vide Mr. Forfter's Sketches of Hindo© Mythology, p. 12, 
f See page 3.38 of this volume^ 



[ 3*4 ] 

to the healing ferpent elevated in the wilder- 

nefs.* 

M. Tavernier, on his entering the pagoda 
firft defcribed in this volume, obferved an idol 
in the centre of the building fitting crofs- 
legged, after the Indian fafhion, upon whofe 
head was placed tine triple couronne \-\ .and 
from this triple crown four horns extended 
themfelves, the fymbol of the rays of glory, 
denoting the Deity to whom the four quarters 
of the world were under fubjeflion. Accord- 
ing to the fame author, in his account of the 
Benares pagoda, the deity of India is faluted 
by proftrating the body three times 5 and to this 
account I fhall add, that he is not only adorned 
with a triple crown, and worfhipped by a triple 
falutation, but he bears in his hands a three- 
forked fceptre, exhibiting the exat\ model, or 
rather, to fpeak more truly, being the un- 
doubted prototype of the trident of the Greek 
Neptune. On that fymbol of the watery deity 
I beg permiffion to fubmit to the reader a few 
curfory obfervations. 

The very unfatisfa&ory reafons given by 
mythologifts for the affignment of the trident 

to 

• John Hi. 14, 

See Voyage des Indes, tom^iu. p. 226, edit. Rouen, 171^ 



[ 385 ] 

to that deity, exhibit very dear evidence of its 
being a fymbol that was borrowed from fome 
more ancient mythology, and did not natu- 
rally, or originally, belong to Neptune. Its 
| three points, or tines> fome of them affirm to 
I fignify the different qualities of the three forts 
i of waters that are upon the earth ; as the 
I waters of the ocean, which are fait $ the water 
of fountains, which is fweet ; and the water 
of lakes and ponds, which, in a degree, par- 
takes of the nature of both. Others, again, 
S tnfift that this three-pronged fceptre alludes 
; to Neptune's threefold power over the fea, 
viz. to agitate , to ^ffuage, and to preferve* 
, Thefe reafons are all mighty frivolous, and 
| amount to a confeffion of their total ignorance 
of its real meaning. 

It was, in the mod ancient periods, the 
fceptre of the Indian deity, and may be feen 
in the hands of that deity in the fourth plate 
| of M. d'Ancarville's third volume, as well as 
! among the facred fymbols fculptured in the 
| Elephanta cavern, and copied thence by M. 
I Niebuhr into the fixth plate of his engravings 
of the Elephanta Antiquities.f It was, indeed, 

B b highly 

• See Varro, lib. ii. cap. 2 ; and confult Banier's Mythology 
on this fymbol, vol. ii. p. 30. 

f See Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie, torn, ii. cppolTte p. 2]. 



t #fc ] 

highly proper, and ftri&Iy chara£leriftic, that 
a threefold Deity fliould wield a triple fceptre : 
and I have now a very curious circumftance 
to unfold to the reader, which I am enabled 
to do from the information of Mr. Hodges, 
relative to this myfterious emblem. The very 
ancient and venerable edifices of Deogur, 
which have before been defcribed as immenfe 
pyramids, do not terminate at the fummit in 
a pyramidal point; for, the apex is cut off at 
about one-feventh of what would be the en- 
tire height of the pyramid were it completed, 
arid from the centre of the top there rifes a 
circular cone, that ancient emblem of the fun. 
What is exceedingly Angular in regard to 
thefe cones is, that they are on their fummits ! 
decorated with this very fymbol, or ufurped 
fceptre, of the Greek iWeiSW. Thus was the 
outfide of the building decorated and crowned, j 
as it were, with a confpicuous emblem of the 
worfhip celebrated within, which, from the 
antiquity of the ftru£lure, railed in the in- 
fancy of the empire, after cavern-worfhip had 
ceafed, was probably that of Brahma, Veefhnu, 
and Seeva; for, we have feen that Elepbanta is, I 

in faft, A TEMPLE TO THE INDIAN TRIAD, 

evidenced in the coloflfal fculpture that forms 
the principle figure of it, and excavated pro- 
bably 



[ 387 ] 

I bably ere Brahma had fallen into negleft 
I among thofe who ftili acknowledge him as 
the creative energy, or different kSts had 
! fprung up under the refpeftive names of 
I Veefhnu and Seeva. Underftood with re- 
! ference to the pure theology of India, fuch 
I appears to me to be the meaning of this mif- 
! taken fymbol § but a fyftem of phyfical theology 
I quickly iucceeded to the pure one; and the de- 
1 bafed, but ingenious, progeny, who invented 
1 it, knew too well how to adapt the fymbois and 
images of the true to the falfe devotion. The 
three fublime hypoftafes of the true Trinity 
were degraded into three attributes; in phyfi- 
cal caufes the facred myfteries of religion were 
attempted to be explained away 3 its doftrines 
were corrupted, and its emblems perverted, 
They went the abfurd length of degrading a 
Creator (for fuch Brahma, in the Hindoo 
creed, confeffedly is) , to the rank of a created 
Dewtah, which has been ihewn to be a glaring 
folecifm in theology. 

The evident refult, then, is that, notwith- 
ftanding all the corruption of the purer theo- 
I logy of the Brahmins, by the bafe alloy of hu- 
i man philofophy, under the perverted notion 
1 of three attributes, the Indians have immemo- 
I rially worfhipped a threefold Divinity, who, 

B b 2 confid*red 



E 388 ] 

confidered apart from their phyfical notions, 
is the Creator, the Preferver, and the Regene- 
rator. I muft again repeat, that it would be, 
in the higheft degree, abfurd to continue to 
affix the name of Deftroyer to the third hy- 
poftalis in their Triad, when it is notorious 
that the Brahmins deny that any thing can be ! 
deftroyed, and infift that a change alone in 
the form of obje&s and their mode of exiftence 
takes place. One feature, therefore, in that 
chara&er, hoftile to our fyftem, upon ftridfc 
examination, vani/hes ; and the other feature, 
which creates fo much difguft, and gives fucb 
an air of licentioufhefs to his chara&er, is 
annihilated by the confideration of their deep 
immerfion in philofophical fpeculations, of 
their inceffant endeavours to account for the 
divine operations by natural caufes, and to ex- 
plain them by palpable and vifible fymbols. 

Thefe three beings, in fa6l, are all fculp- 
tured with expreffivc emblems, or marks, 
that prove them to be not of temporal nor 
.mortal, but of divine and fpiritual, origin. 
The fymbol of Brahma, which he conftantly 
bears in bis hand, is the circle ; the known 
fymbol ©f eternity in India, in the fame man- 
ner as ferpents in circles were, in Egypt, the 
fymbol of revolving cycles and perpetual gene- 
rations. 



[ 3§9 1 

rations. His four heads mark the creator of 
the four elements of Nature; and their pofition 
in all fculpturesand paintings, to front the four 
quarters of the world, points him out as the 
fupreme infpe&or and governor of that uni- 
verfe which, I have frequently obferved, the 
effort of a God only could create. When, there- 
fore, fome feels of Indians degrade Brahma 
from his divine rank ; or when they vainly 
philofophize, and make him to be matter, and 
honour him with lefs folemn and refpeftful 
rites in their temples than Veeflinu and Ma- 
hadeo ; it is evident they do not rightly un- 
derftand their own fyftem of theology $ that 
they have forgotten the grand original tradi- 
tion by which they were led to worfhip three 
in one; and are, moreover, guilty of the 
enormous folecifm of making matter create 
itfelf. On every retrofpeft towards the bene- 
volent chara&er and amiable functions of the 
fecond perfon in the Indian Triad, it is, I 
conceive, abundantly manifeft, that, by Veefli- 
nu, the original inventors of this fyftem of 
worfliip could only mean to ftiadow out the 
great Preferver of mankind from the pains of 
eternal death. Vcefhnu invariably carries in 
his hand the celeftial chacra, or Indian 
thunderbolt, which is likewife a weapon in 
B b 3 the 



t 39° 1 

the form of a circle, continually vomiting forth 
flames ; and which, at the command of thegod^ 
itfelf inftin<5t with life, traverfes heaven and 
earth to deftroy the Assoors, thofe malignant 
daemons who perpetually plot the moleftation 
' and downfall of the human race, the object of 
his guardian care, Yeefhnu rides upon his Ga- 
roori, or eagle, which is conftantly fculptured 
near him in the Indian temples j a fymbol, 
which, while it puts us in mind of the thun- 
der-bearing eagle of the Grecian Jupiter, can- 
not fail of bringing to our remembrance that 
hallowed bird of the Hebrew cherubim, which, 
I have obferved, formed a confpicuous con* 
ftellation on the primitive arid poffibly ante- 
diluvian fphere. It fhould alfo be remember- 
ed, that to Seeva belongs the bull, which is 
another animal in the grand Hebrew hierogly- 
phic, and, notwithftanding the wild mythology 
of the Brahmins, it is more than probable that 
this aftronomical fymbol, in ancient times, 
was at once both accounted for and applied 
in a manner widely different from that in 
which it is explained and applied by the pre r 
fent race of Indians. In refpeftto the remain- 
ing fymbolical animal of the Cherubim, though 
the lion be not the immediate fymbol of 
Brahma, yet it gives its name to too many of 



[ 39* 3 

the diftinguifhed perfonages in the Indian 
hiftory and mythology, to allow us one mo- 
ment to doubt of their high and moft ancient 
veneration for that zodiacal afterifm, confe- 
crated by the adoption of it among the few 
fymbols admitted into the Mofaic theology. 
To clofe this extended Difquilition on the In- 
dian Trinity, we fee that the Elephanta ca- 
vern-pagoda, excavated in aeras of unfathom- 
able antiquity, was a stupendous temple 
to that Trinity 5 that their moft ancient 
and venerated produttion, the Mahabbarat, is 
not lefs exprefs upon the unity of Deity than 
the threefold diftin&ion contended for that, 
in remembrance of this Triad, at firft pure 
and holy in every feature of its charadter, but 
degraded afterwards by grofs phyfics and falfe 
philofophy, they wear a facred Zennar, or 
cord of three threads, next their bodies, and 
that thence the number three has been 
holden by them in the moft facred veneration 
through every sera of their exiftence as a na- 
tion ; a nation diftinguifhed above all others 
in Pagan antiquity for the profundity of its 
various learning and the purity of its primaeval 
theology. 



B b 4 



I 

j • 

I 

1 

I 

! 

■ 



i<3 



5^ 



I 

■8 -Sv* 



85; 



if 

* i 




[ 393 3 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Author, p erf ever ing in his Re fear ch through- 
out Afia for the Remains of the primitive 
Dottrine of a divine Triad governing the 
World, difcovers evident Vefliges of it in Thi- 
bet and Tartary engraved on Medals and 
fculptured in Images. —An Account of the ce- 
lebrated medal found in the Deferts of Si- 
beria impreffed with the Figure of a triune 
Deity. — The Scandinavian Theology plainly in- 
culcates the Doftrine in its Three f acred Per- 
fins, Oden^Frea, and Thor.— Extracts 
from the Edda decidedly confirming the above 
Affertion. — From the northern Afia this Doc- 
trine, with other Oriental Dogmas, was pro- 
pagated to America, demonftrated from Acojla 
in their great Idol Tangatanga, or Three 
is One. — Brief Statement of the theological 
Code of China. — Evidence adduced from Le 
Compte that the Cbinefe are not without the 
Notion of a Divine Triad governing the 
World. * 



FROM 



The Siberian medal. 




Aimalmafo S ancta, Dei in trilw Imaginibwr - hirce 7 
Colligitc Sanctam voluntatemUei ex Mis. » 
-Diligite cum 



[ 394 ] 



FROM the previous extenfive furvey of the 
various fyftems of Eastern Theology, 
it is evident that the notion of a Divine Triad 
governing the univerfe, however darkened and 
degraded through the prevalence of a long fc- 
ries of grofs fuperftitions, was a do&rine that 
immemorially prevailed in the fchools of Alia. 
From whatever diftant fource derived, through 
fucceffive generations, and amidft a thoufand 
perverfions, the great truth contended for 
beams forth with more or lefs fplendor in 
every country of the ancient world, and 
darts convidrion upon the mind not prejudiced 
againfr the reception of it by the fuggeftions 
of human pride and the dogmas of falfe phi- 
lofophy. 

To try the merits of this great caufe in the 
court of human reafon, is evidently to bring 
it before a tribunal incompetent to decide up- 
on fo important a queftion ; and is, in fa£t, 
to exalt a terreftial judge before the eternal 
Judge of all things. Since, however, the an- 
cient Jews did not think it repugnant to rea- 
fon to diftinguifh the divine Effenceinto three 

Lights, 



[ 395 1 

Lights, affigning them names very nearly re- 
fembling thofe by which we denominate 
the three hypoftafes of the Chriftian Trinity, 
and fince they affirm that number in God does 
not deftroy his unity ; Cnce, alio, the fyftem of 
emanations, iffuing from, and returning into, 
the abyfs of the Divinity, was fo generally ad- 
mitted into the theology of thofe pagan na- 
tions, whofe fole guide in forming that theolo- 
gy is averred to have been the light of reafon j 
we are juftified in aflerting that this dodrine, 
though not founded upon reafon as a bafis, 
is by no means deftitute of its decided fupport 
and concurrence. The bafis upon which it 
refts is far more noble as well as durable, 
divine revelation, ftrengthened by the 
moft ancient traditions, and the confenting 
creed of nearly all the kingdoms of the Greater 
Afia. This faa, already in part eftabhfhed, 
will be ftiU more fully evinced, as we conti- 
nue the progrefs of our inveftigation through 
that extenfive quarter of the globe. 

From India, if we direct our eyes north- 
ward to the great empires of Tangut and 
Thibet, and over the vaft Tartarian deferts to 
Siberia itfelf, we fiiall find the fame fentiments 
predominate. In the former country, if' the 
authors quoted in Parfons's Remains of Japhet 

may 



j 



C 396 3 

may be credited, medals, having the figure of 
the triune Deity ftamped upon them, are 
given to the people by the Dalai-Lama, who 
unites in his own perfon the hierarchal, and 
regal chara6ter, to be fufpended as a holy 
obje£t around their necks, or confpicuoufly 
devated in the chapels where they perform; 
their devotions.* It is there alio aflerted that 
the Roman miffionaries, arriving in thofe re- 
gions, found the people already in pofleffioa 
of that fundamental do&rine of the true 
' religion, which, among others, they came 
to imprefs upon their minds, and univer- 
fally adoring an idol fabricated to refemble, 
as nearly as poflible, a Trinity in Unity. Dr. 
Parfons is of opinion, that, as there is no re- 
cord of their having had the principles of the 
Chriftian religion ever propagated among 
them, they could only have attained to the 
knowledge of that myfterious truth by means 
of traditional dogmas, handed down to them 
from very high antiquity, which, in the 
courfe of fo many revolving ages and fuch 
numerous viciffitudes as Afia has undergone, 
has never been obliterated from their minds, 
although it has been degraded by being blend- 
ed with the fuperftitions of the neighbouring 

Brahmins 

* See Parfom's Remains of Japhet, p. 185 and 206, 



C 397 1 

Brahmins and -the magi. With refpeSl to the 
Tartars and Siberians, Van Strahlenburg, there 
cited, after remarking how univerfal a vene- 
! ration prevails through all northern Tartary 
for the facred number three, acquaints us, 
i that " a race of Tartars, called Jakuthi, who 
! are idolaters, and the moft numerous people 
| of all Siberia, adore in fa& Only one indivifiblc 
| God under three different denominations, 
which, in their vernacular tongue, are Ar- 

TUGON, SCHUGO-TEUGON, T^NGAIA j" the 

firft of which words Colonel Grant tranflates, 
Creator of all things ; the fecond, the God of 
armies-, and the third he renders, Amor ah 
utroque procedens, the Spirit of heavenly love, 
proceeding from the two former. 

The celebrated Siberian medal, publifli* 
cd by Dr. Parfons, and now depofited in the 
valuable imperial cabinet at St. Peterfburg, 
on one fide of which is engraved the figure of 
a triune deity, and, on the other fide, cer- 
tain Thibetian charafters, illuftrative of that 
figure, was found in an old ruined cha- 
pel, together with many ancient manu- 
fcripts, near the river Kemptfchyk, which 
falls into the great river Jenifei near its head. 
It is compofed, according to M. Van Strahlen- 
burg, of a fubftance refembling terra fgillata, 

and 



[ 398 ] 

and is of the exact (hape and fize of the ac- 
companying engraving, the border of one 
part of the medal being very much corroded. 
Of this medal, Dr. Parfons's defcription is as 
follows : " The image, which appears upon 
one fide, and which reprefents a deity, is one 
human figure as to the body and lower extre- 
mities, but is diftinguimed above by three, 
heads. The figure fits crofs-legged upon a 
lowfofa, or ftool, in the manner of Eaftern 
fovereigns : an arched urn, or Jomething refem- 
bling it, is under the fofa, but feems empty. 
It is thought that this figure is thus made, 
with one body, three heads, and fix arms, 
from an idea prevailing among thofe who fa- 
bricated it of a Trinity in Unity."* To this 
account of Dr. Parfons I fhall add the remark 
of Strahlenburg ; that the people who fabri- 
cated this figure were perhaps of opinion that 
the firft perfon in it, content with having 
created all things, refted in tranquillity : they 
therefore drew him with his hands folded 
acrofs, as if he had refigned all care of the 
univerfe to the other tv/o : and they figured 
out this his pre-eminence by adorning his 
head with a high mitre-cap. The infcription 
on the oppofite fide of the medal is in Englifli 

as 



* Remains of J aphet, p. 187, ubi fequent. 



[ 399 1 

as follows : " The bright and facred image, 
of Deity, confpicuous in three figures. Ga- 
ther the holy purpofe of God from them: 
love him." The mode of expreflion and the 
alternate ufe of the fingular and the plural 
noun decifively mark the real fentiments and 
intent of thofe who <?aufed it to be thus en- 
graved. 

Dr. Parfons defcribes this triple image as 
feated upon a low fofa, with an arched urn y 
or fomctbing refembling it, underneath. It is 
rather furprifing that our author, who was 
by profcffion a phyfician, an order of men to 
whom one ihouid fuppofe botany ought to be 
fomewhat familiar, and a member of the So- 
ciety of Antiquaries, in whofe noble-engraved 
colledion the lotos perpetually appears fculp- 
tured on innumerable medallions, vafes, and 
other precious relics of Egyptian and Afiatic 
antiquities, fhould have not difcovered that 
the urn, or cup, alluded to, is that of the 
lotos. In refpe& to the figure itfelf, it is evi. 
dently the Indian Triad, Brahma, Veeflmu, 
and Seeva, who are portrayed fitting upon 
that lotos, the ufual throne of the fabulous 
perfonages of Oriental mythology ; and it is 
one among many other forcible and dired 
teftimpnies over how vaft an extent of Afia, 

in 



[ 4°^ 1 

in ancient periods, the religion, and with it 
probably the laws and fciences, of Hindoftan 
were diffufed. 

While in thefe remote northern regions it 
would be improper to pafs unnoticed by the 
ancient race and religious rites of Scandinavia, 
I have elfewhere endeavoured, by a chain of 
ftrong evidence, to demonftrate that their 
firft celebrated god Oden, or Woden, was no 
other than the Taut of Phoenicia, the Hermes 
of Egypt, the elder Buddha, or Boodh, of In- 
dia, the Fo of China, and the Mercury of 
Greece and Rome. In fhort, that the religion 
of almoft every nation of the earth, previous 
to the happy diffufion of the Chriftian doc- 
trine, exhibited little elfe befides the (battered 
fragments of one grand fyftem of primitive, I 
do not fay the earlieft, theology, once prevalent 
in the Greater Afia. Not the leaft forcible of 
the arguments adduced to fupport this hypo- 
thefis, an hypothefis that gives to Britain, in 
the earlieft periods of the world, a colony of 
Brahmins, or at leaft of Brahmin-taught fages 
of the fefl: of Boodh, are thofe derived from the 
ftriking fimilitude of the fuperftitious ceremo- 
nies inftituted and obferved in thofe refpeftive 
regions, and the very Angular circumftance of 
the Indian god and planet Boodh, under the 

jiamt 



L 401 ] 

name of Woden and Mercury, conferring his 
name, over all the northern and weftern em- 
pires of Europe, upon one particular day of 
! the week. This remarkable fa£t is evidenced 
in the inftance of the Boodh war, or dies 
Mercurii, of India being the very fame fourth 
day of the week which the Scandinavians 
Confecrated to Oden, which our Anglo-Saxon 
anceftors denominated Woden's dag, and 
which we call Wednefday. 1 fhall not far- 
ther anticipate what wall (hortly be prefented 
to the reader on this curious fubjeil, than 
by remarking that both Keyfler and Mallet 
unite in affigaing to this god-king Oden an 
Afiatic origin, and in after ting that the 
mythology which he introduced was the 
mythology, not of a cold ungenial region 
where the efforts of a lively imagination are 
checked by the rigour of the climate and ob- 
jects that infpire gloom and melancholy, but 
of a warm* luxurious, fouthern, realm, where 
an aftive, vigorous, fancy, under the impe- 
tuous goad of ardent paffions, and ani- 
mated by the moft enlivening and charming 
objefts, forms the moft romantic images, and 
indulges its natural propenfities to gaiety by 
the moft mirthful feftivals and the moft fplen- 
did rites. 

Cc In 



[ 4°2 3 

■ In refpeft to the Scandinavian religion, I 
fliall only for the prefent obferve, that, in 
regard to the doftrine in queftion, it does 
not differ from other codes of religious in- 
ftitution in Afia ; for, it plainly inculcates 
the worfhip of a triple Deity in the mytho- 
logic perfons of Oden, Frea, and Thor.* 

Concerning the firft of thefe deities I think j 
it has been in my power to produce incon- 
teftable evidence of his being the very iden- 
tical perfonage denominated Taut, Hermes, 
and Boodh, through all the Eaft. M. Mal- 
let has produced as irrefragable proof that 
Frea, the fecond perfon in this Scandinavian 
Triad, is no other than the celebrated Dea Syria, 
adored at Babylon, and the Venus Urania of 
the Perfians. She feems, indeed, to be the 
prolific mother of all things, the great prin- 
ciple of fecundity, and her name and rites 
demonftrate her clofe affinity with the Rhea 
of the Greeks, to whofe honour they fmote 
the refounding cymbal, while the facred me- , 
lody myfterioufly (hadowed out the harmony \ 
that prevails through univerfal nature. She 
gave her name to the fixth day of the week, 
which was confecrated to her under the de- 
nomination of Freytag, that is Frea's day, 

fynonymous 

* Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol.i. p. 96. 



[ 4°3 3 

fynonymcus with our Friday ; and, in diredc 
teftimony that her chara&er is not uncon- 
nected with that of Venus Urania, as af- 
ferted by M. Mallet, may be adduced the re- 
markable circumftance of that day being 
diftinguiflied in the weftern world by the 
appellation of Dies Veneris* With refpedl 
to Thor, the third of thefe northern deities, 
otherwife known among the Celtic nations 
by the name of Taranjs, a title which, in 
the Welch, that is, the old Cimbrian, lan- 
guage, M. Mallet obferves, fignifies thunder ; 
he in every refpecl greatly refembles the 
Eendra of the Indians, and the Jupiter 
Tonans of the Greeks and Romans. Thor 
prafidet in aere, fulmina et fruges guber- 
nat. This Scandinavian Jove feems to have 
been alfo armed with the chacra of Veefh- 
nu, recently infcribed as inftinft with life; 
for, fays our author, Thor always carried a 
mace, or club, which, as often as he dis- 
charged it, returned of itfelf to the hand 
that launched it. He grafped this impatient 
and reftlefs weapon, which, like the thun- 
der-bolt of the Grecian Jove, vibrated to be 
gone, with ftrong gauntlets of iron, and he 
wore around his loins a myftic girdle which 
C c 2 had 

* Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i. p. 95, 



[ 4°4 1 j 
had the virtue to renovate his ftrength, 
when neceffary. " It was with thefe for- 
midable arms that he overthrew the monfters 
and giants" (the Affoors, or evil demons of j 
India) " when the gods fent him to oppofe 
their enemies/'* To Thor, likewife, there was 
a day confecrated, in the northern mythology, jj 
which ftill retains his name in various lan- 1 
guages of Europe. That day is, in Danifti, 
called Thorfdag; in Swedifh, Torfdag ; in 
Englifli, Thurfday, It is not lefs worthy 
of obfervation that this day was, by the Ro- 
mans, and by all thofe nations who have fince 
adopted their aftronomical language, called 
Dies Jovis. 

In that valuable relic of northern genius, 
the Edda, in which is contained an authen- 
tic epitome of Runic mythology, thefe three 
deities are reprefented as fitting on three ; 
thrones, with each a crown on his head. The : 
defcription is curious, and I fhali prefent it 
to the reader in the words of that eminent 
antiquary and worthy prelate, Dr. Percy, 
who tranflated it, and who, as he honoured 
my juvenile productions with his patronage, 
I hope will extend it to the maturer efforts 
of my pen. In that poem, the aftoniftied 

Gangler, 

♦ Northern Antiquities, vol. i. p. 97* 



[ 4°5 3 

Gangler, being introduced into the lofty pa- 
lace, or hall, of the gods, the roof of which 
c< was formed of brilliant gold, beheld, three 
thrones raifed one above another, and upon 
each throne fat a facred perfonage. Upon his 
afking which of thefe was their king, the 
guide anfwered, he, who fits on the lowed 
throne, is the king, his name is Har, the 
lofty one\ the fecond, Jafnhar, or equal to 
the lofty one; he, who fits on the higheft 
throne, is called Thrtdi, or the third!'* The 
right reverend editor informs us, that, in the 
manufcript of the Edda, preferved at Upfal, 
there is a reprefentation, or drawing, very 
rudely executed, of thefe three thrones, and 
of the three perfons fitting upon them, before 
whom Gangler is drawn in a fuppliant pofture. 
<c Thefe figures," his lord£hip adds, " bear 
fo great a refemblance to the Roman Catholic 
piftures of the Trinity, that we muft not 
wonder if fome have imagined them to be an 
allufion to that doctrine, particularly thofe who 
fuppofe it was already known to Plato and 
fome others among the ancient Pagans." To 
this remark I beg permiflion to fubjoin, that 
though I am very far from conceiving that 

C c 3 thefe 

* Edda, tranllatcd by tiie editor of Mallet's North. Antic], 
vol. ii. p 3. 



r 406 ] 

thefe thrones have any immediate allufion to 
the thrones which the pious Daniel faw exalted, 
(for, fo the orignal words, tranflated cafl 
down, fhould be rendered,) whereon the An~ 
cient of Days and the eternal Logos fat in hea- 
ven to judge mankind, and much farther 
from drawing any comparifon between the 
immortal Beings that fat upon the latter, 
and the deified mortals that were exalted to the 
former, thrones ; yet I may furely contend 
for the perverfion of fome ancient tradition, 
by which the mind of the Scandinavian theo- 
logue was imprefled with the idea of a heaven, 
in which were erected three thrones for as 
many fovereign gods : I fay the perverfion of 
fome ancient tradition, fince it is for a Triad 
of Deity, the manifeft veftige of that nobler 
do£trine, a Trinity in Unity, that I, in this 
inftance, alone contend. But, left I fhould 
appear, amidft thefe excurfive inquiries into 
the Pagan Triads, to have* altogether loft fight 
of that nobler dodrine, I fhall, upon this 
fubjeci of celefiial thrones^ fubmit to the reader 
a very curious paffage, relative to the belief of 
the Jews in a triune Deity, which occurs in 
the fame extenfive note of the Univerfal Hif- 
tory from which I borrowed a former extracl 
on that fubjed, and in which the true mean- 
ing 



[ 40/ 1 

mg of the paffage in Daniel, juft cited, re- 
fpefting the throne of Deity, is difcufled. 
The writers of the Talmud, they affert, have 
plainly unfolded their real opinion in agita- 
ting this queftion : Why is the throne of God, 
in Daniel, mentioned in the plural number ? 
" After feveral trifling anfwers, which are 
there given as the folution of the feveral learned 
rabbies, one of whom pretends, that the 
plural implies the thrones oj God and David: 
the laft and concluding reply is to the fol- 
lowing purpofe : That it is blafphemy to fet 
the creature on the throne of the Creator, 
bleffed for ever; and the whole is clofed with 
thefe notable words : If any one can fohe this 
difficulty, let him do ii\ if not, let him go his 
way and not attempt it." The meaning, they 
obferve, is too obvious to need explana- 
tion.* 

That the vaft continent of America was in 
the moft remote periods vifited, and in part 
colonized, by the great naval and commercial 
powers of the ancient world, the Phoenicians, 
Egyptians, and Carthaginians, who, driven 
by tempefts, or fome of the various accidents 
attendant upon the perilous fcience of naviga- 

C c 4 ti° n > 

* See Ancient Univerfal Hiftory, vol. iii. p. 12. Edit, oft, 
1748. • 



[ 4o8 ] 

tion, has been rendered highly probable by the 
learned Hornius in his book, on the Origin 
of the Americans, from various concurring 
circumftan<:es of affinity, enumerated by him, 
refpe£ting the language, civil cuftoras, and 
religious institutions, prevailing among thofe 
refpe&ive nations. The univerfal adoration 
of the folar orb by the Americans, and the 
remarkable facl mentioned by Sir William 
Jones in the Afiatic Refearches, that the firft 
dynafties of Peruvian kings are dignified, ex- 
actly as thofe of India are, by the name of 
the fun and moon,* may alfo be adduced 
in evidence that a race, wandering from the 
neighbourhood of Caucafus, and traverfing 
the vaft deferts of Afia, towards the north-? 
eaftern extremity, palled over the chain of 
iflands, now known to exift between thp 
two continents, and contributed their pro* 
portion towards the population of the new 
world. Whether in Manca, or Mancu s 
whom the Peruvian traditional books men- 
tion as their firft emperor, may be traced, 
as Hornius afferts, any real veftige of the 
race of Tartars called Manchew, or, in the 
appellation of MaJatectZ, one of the four na- 
tions 



* Vk'.e Hernias de Oiig. pent, Amsrk. p. 105. Edit. o£t 
1652. 



[ 4°9 ] 

tions of New Spain ; and, in Maffachufeta, a 
people of New England, the ancient Mas- 
SAGETJ32, are difcovered; thefe are points on 
which, from the uncertainty of general etymo- 
logy, it would be rafh to form any abfolute 
decifion. But, on a recent perufal of Acofta's 
Authentic Hiflory of South America, I could 
not avoid being ftruck with his account of 
the dreadful fanguinary facrifices of which 
both the Peruvians and Mexicans are enor- 
moufly guilty, and I fhall here infert it, as 
forming a ftriking and gloomy fimilitude to 
the bloody facrifices of the old Scythians and 
Indians, defcribed from Herodotus and Mr. 
Wilkins in many former pages. That fimi- 
litude is more .particularly vifible in thefe two 
points, the firft is, that the viclims thus fa- 
c/ificed are prifoners taken in war ; the fecond 
is, that thefe are offered up for the prefervation 
of the monarch.^ 

The ancient Peruvians ufed to facrifice 
V young children from foure, or fix, yeares 
Qld unto tenne; and the greateft parte of 
thefe facrifices were for the affaires that did 
concern the Ynca, as in ficknefs, for his 
recovery ; and, when he went to the warres, 
for victory. In thefe folemnities they facri- 

ficed 

* See the chapter on the Scythian facrifices. 



f ff* ] 

ficed the number of two hundred children 
of the age defcribed above, which was a 
cmelle and inhumane fpectacle. The manner 
cf the facrifice was to drowne them and bury 
them with certaine reprefentations and cere- 
monies \ and fometimes they cut off their 
heads, anointing themfelves with the blood. 
They did likewife facrifice virgins { and, if a 
native were ficke, and the ecclefiaftic tolde him 
confidently that he fhould die, they did then 
facrifice his c<wn forme to the -Sunne, or to 
Virachoca, defiring them to be fatisfied 
with him, and fpare the life of the father."* 
In the following page of the fame author we 
read as follows : * Although they of Peru 
have furpaffed the Mexicans in the flaughter 
and facrifice of their children, yet they of 
Mexico have exceeded them, yea and all the 
nations of the worlde, in the great number 
cf men which they facrificed, and in the 
horrible manner thereof. The men, thus 
facrificed, were taken in the vsarres, neither 
did they ufe thefe folemne facrifices, but of 
captive/i in this they followed the. cuftom 
of the ancients/' Acofta might here have 
added, in particular that cf the Scythians, 

and 

* Acoftas Hiilorie cf uiz Indies, |. 3 3o, edit quart Lond. 

1604. 



[ 4ii ] 

and the Druids, their direB defcenda?it$ ; as T 
have little doubt of very fhortly demonftra- 
ting. " In truth, the ordinary warres they 
carried on were only made to obtain captives 
for their facrificesj and, therefore, when 
they did fight, they laboured to take their 
enemies alive for the purpofe of enjoying 
their facrifices."* The facrifice was per- 
formed upon a raifed terrace, which cannot 
fail of bringing to the reader's recollection 
the high quadrangular altar of the Scythian 
favages, and the ceremony itfelf is thus defcri- 
bed: "The fovereign prieft carried a great 
knife in his hand of a large and fharpe flint : 
another prieft carried a collar of wood, 
wrought in form of a Jnake r* he might have 
faid the ferpent, the fymbol of that fun, whofe 
devoted viflims they were. " The other four 
priefts, who affifted, arranged themfelves in 
order, adjoining to the pyramidal Jlone, whereof 
I have fpoken ; being dire&ly againft the 
doore of the chapell of their idoll. This 
ftone was fo pointed, as that the man who 
was to be facrificed, being laid thereon upon 
his back, did bend in fuch fort, as occafioned 
the ftomach to feparate upon the flighted 
incifion of the knife. When the facrificers 

were 

* Acofta's Hift. of the Indies, p. 382. 



[ 4 T * 1 

were thus In order, they brought forth fuch 
as had been taken in warre, and caufed them 
to mount up thofe large flairs, in rank, to the 
place were the minifters were prepared. As 
they refpe&ively approached thofe minifters, 
the latter feized them, two of them laying 
hold of the two feet and two more of the 
two hands of the unhappy vi&im, and in 
this manner caft him on his back upon the 
pointed ftone, while the fifth fattened round 
his neck the ferpentine collar of wood. 
The high prieft then opened his ftomach with 
a knife with wonderful dexterity and nimble- 
nefs, tearing out his heart with his hand, 
which he elevated fmoking towards the funne, 
to whom he did offer it, and prefently, turn- 
ing towards the idol, did caft the heart to- 
wards it, befmearing his face with the blood. 
In this manner were all the vi&ims facrificed, 
and the bodies afterwards precipitated down 
the flairs, reeking with their gore. There 
were ever forty or fifty vi£tims, at the leaft, 
thus facrificed." The above paffage I have 
given unabridged, becaufe in it are enumera- 
ted certain particulars, as the wooden ferpent, 
the pyramidal ftone, and the offering to the 
Sun the heart of the vidim, which exhibit 
full lefs equivocal marks of the fimilarity pre- 
vailing 



[ 'm i 

vailing in the theology of the two continents $ 
nor can I, for the fame reafon, prevail upon 
royfelf to omit his relation of their very re- 
markable veneration for fountains and rivers, 
and their frequent ablution in them. £C An- 
ciently there were Indians appointed to per- 
form facrifice to fountains, fprings, and ri- 
vers, whofe waters paffe through the towns. 
To this day, they are honoured with a confi- 
derable (hare of the ancient refpeft paid to 
them : but a more efpecial regard and reve- 
rence is paid to the meeting of two rivers ; and 
there they perform ablutions, anointing them- 
fclves firft with the flower of mays, adding 
thereto divers ceremonies, as they do likewife 
in their bathes."* That portion, however, 
of the theological fyftem of the Americans, to 
which I wifh to direct the more particular at- 
tention of the reader, is contained in the fol- 
lowing paffage, where this reverend father, 
in pious indignation, acquaints us, that " the 
devil, after his manner, hath brought a Tri- 
nity into their idolatry ; for, the three images 
of the Sun, called Apomti, Churunti, and 
Intiquaoqui, are terms that fignify Father 
and Lord Sun, the Son Sun, and the Bro- 
ther Sun. In like manner they named the 

TURTLE 

* Acofta's Hift. of the Indies, p. 379I 



r 4H i 

THREE IMAGES of ChUQUILLA, which IS the 

god that rules in the region of the air." But, 
according to this writer, they go a ftep far- 
ther than the acknowlegdement of a mere 
Triad of Deity, and worfhip a direft Trinity 
in Unity : for, " in Cuquifaco there is a cer- 
taine oratory, where they worfliip a great 
idol, whom they call Tangatanga, which 
fignifies one in three and three in one."* 
Of thefe three Triads, the firft very much re- 
fembles the Triplafios Mithras, or threefold 
power of God in the Sun, adored by the Per- 
fians and the fecond is parallel to the Jupiter 
Pater, Jupiter Soter, and Jupiter Ultor, of 
the Greeks $ or, if the reader choofes rather 
to underftand it phyfically, in refped: to the 
setherial element, this American Eendra may 
be the Jupiter Tonans, Jupiter Serenus, and 
Jupiter Pluvius, all which names are refpec- 
tively conferred upon him by ancient writers ; 
but the third is an evident perverfion of the 
dogma of a purer theology handed traditio- 
nally down, through a channel long fince for- 
gotten, from thofe holy patriarchs, to whom 
the eternal Father was pleafed to reveal the 
awful fecrets of that nature, which, without 
fuch revelation, it is utterly impoffible for 

finite 

* Acofta's Hifl. of the Indies, p. 412. 



[ 4*5 ] 

finite beings to fathom ; ffee ftupendous myf- 
tery of a Trinity of Hypoftafes in the Unity of 
the Divine Eflence. 

But let us return to the great theatre of our 
prefent inveftigation, to Asia, and inquire if 
the ancient and celebrated empire of China 
affords a fyftem of theology illuftrative of a 
fubjeft fo deeply involved in the obfcurity of 
Eaftern philofophy and entangled in the mazes 
of Oriental allegory. 

In that remote and happy region, fecluded 
not lefs by fituation than by the wife policy of 
its fov.ereigns from all intercourfe with the 
other nations of the earth, the true religion 
imported, as fome think, by Noah himfelf, 
or one of his pious pofterity, flourifhed longed 
unadulterated.* A fucceffion of virtuous and 
magnificent monarchs, defcending for near 
three thoufand years in regular fucceffion from 
the great Fohi, whoever he was, made it the 
proudeft glory of their refpettive reigns to 
fupport it by their whole authority, and en- 
force it by the noble and fplendid example of 
regal piety. 

Since 



* See Shuckford's Connexions, vol. i. p. 33, and Sir Walter 
Raleigh's Hiftory of the World, p. 54- The fubjedt is exteafively 
sonfidered in the Hiflory itfelf. 



[ 4*6 1 

Since it is my intention, in the enfuing hif- 
tory, occafionally to conficler India upon the 
great fcale of its more extended geography, as 
the ancients feem to have underftood the term, 
and as ftated by Sir William Jones in the A- 
fiatic Refearches,* that is to fay, as an em- 
pire extending from the great northern range 
of Caucafus to the extreme fouthern point of 
Sinhala, or Ceylone, and from the frontiers 
of Perfia on the weft to the Chinefe Ocean 
on the eaft, it will be my province hereafter 
to detail a variety of circumftances that have 
relation to the early hiftory of China, at pre* 
fent fo little known, which will afford the 
ftrongeft corroboration to the Mofaic hiftory, 
and inconteftibly evince that the great lines of 
the moft ancient Afiatic and the Chriftian 
theology are the fame. From an elaborate 
comparifon which I have alfo made of the 
moft ancient hiftories of China, as they ftand 
tranflated and epitomized, in Couplet, Mar- 
tinius, and Du Halde, from thofe celebrated 
Chinefe books of profound antiquity the Xu- 
kim, or book of books; containing the annals 
of the three firft imperial dynafties ; the Xi- 
kim, a more extenfive hiftorical detail j and 
the writings of Confucius, with fuch authen- 
tic 

* See Afiatic Refearches, vol. i. p. 



[ 4*7 ] 

tic Sanfcreet accounts of Indian hiftory as I 
have been able to procure, I have the mod 
confident hopes that new light will be refle£ied 
as well upon the intricate hiftory of thofe 
countries as upon that of Japan. The hiftory 
of the latter country, by Ksempfer, has in the 
courfe of that review been of infinite fervice to 
me, fince, as an immemorial connexion has 
fubfifted between thefe three nations, which, 
after all that has been written by De Guignes 
and the learned Pauw, have probably all three 
defcended from one common ftock, the early 
hiftory of the one muft, under certain redac- 
tions and with due allowances for the changes 
of cuftoms and opinions during a long courfe of 
ages, be confidered as the hiftory of the others, 
I (hall, in this place, prefent to the view of 
the reader a few of the points in which that 
affinity may be clearly traced $ and, in the firft 
place, let us attend to it in regard to their 
theology. 

Martinius, who, from a refidence of ten 
years upon the fpot, and from underftanding 
both the letters, or characters, and language, 
of the country, muft be fuppofed well qua- 
lified to judge of their religious doctrines 
and prattices, aflerts that they anciently wor- 
fhipped one supreme God, a fpirit, nullit 

D d ad 



t +?« 1 

ad rejigionem. exciendum fimulachrh aut ■ Jla- 
tuis uji, ufing neither images or figures to 
excite the devotion of the people becaufe- 
as the Deity was every where preient, and 
his nature exalted far above the reach of 
human comprehenfion, it was impoffible by 
any external image properly to reprefent 
him to the fenfes of men. Therefore he 
obferves, nullum in iis templis antiqiiitus 
idolum vifebatur, fed fimplex tabella, in 
qua linenfi lingua Uteris aureis exaratum 
erat, fpiritualis cuftodis urbis fedes j no 
idol in the moft ancient periods of their 
empire was to be feen in all their temples, 
but only an unornamented tablet, upon , 
which was engraved, in large Chinefe cha- 
racters, in gold, the following infcription : 

THE SANCTUARY OF THE SPIRITUAL GUAR- 
DIAN of the city. This pure .wprfliip. of 
the Deity, whom they denominated Xang- 
-Ti, or Tyen, continued unadulterated till 
after the death of Confucius, which took 
place 500 years previous to the Chriftian 
sera, and is a remarkable and almoft folitacy 
inftsurce of the pure primevalworfhip flou- 
rilhing among a people confining upon na- 
tions immerfed in the . bafeft idolatries of 
Afia. That they believed in the exiftence 

of 



C 4*9 3 

of fubordinate fpirits, the minifters of the 
great God in the government of the univerfe, 
and that they paid an inferior kind of ho- 
mage to thofe fpirits, is to be accounted for 
in the perfuafton, before noticed as being 
fo generally prevalent in Afia, that they might 
be their interceffors with offended Omni- 
potence, and avert his apprehended ven- 
geance. 

Confucius, the nobleft and moft divine 
philofopher of the pagan world, was him- 
felf the innocent occafion of the introduc- 
tion of the numerous and monftrous idols 
that in after-ages difgraced the temples of 
China ; for, having in his dying moments 
encouraged his difconfolate principles by pro- 
phecying Si Fam Yeu Xim Gin, in cc- 
eidente erit Sanctus, in the weft the Holy 
One will appear; they concluded that he 
meant the good Bhood of India, and imme- 
diately introduced into China the worfhip 
of that deity with all the train of abomina- 
ble images and idolatrous rites, by which that 
grofs fuperftition was in fo remarkable a 
manner diftinguifhed. To what holy and 
illuftrious perfonage, about to appear in the 
weft, Confucius, who feems to have in- 
herited at once the fublime virtues and the 
D d 2 prophetic 



[ 420 ] 

prophetic fpirit of the old patriarchs, alluded, 
fhall presently be unfolded.* 

Were it not for the very Angular circum- 
ftance, recorded in the Chinefe hiftories, that 
the mother of Fohi, the great anceftor of the 
Chinefe, was embraced and rendered pregnant 
by a rainbow, a mythological fable very 
probably originating either in forr.e mifcon- 
ceived tradition concerning the kw y which 
was firft manifefted to Noah as a token that 
the waters fhould never again inundate the 
globe, or elfe allufive to his having emerged 
from the bofom of the furrounding ocean 
to commence a new fcene of exiflence upon 
the renovated earth 5 were it not alfo recor- 
ded in the fame hiftories that Fohi carefully 
trained up feven forts of creatures> which he 
annually facrificed to the Supreme Spirit of 
Heaven and Earth, a circumftance fo exa£tly 
confonant to the account of Scripture, that 
Noah took into the ark of every clean beaft 
by fevens, and of fowls in the air by /evens-, 
were it not that they fix the firft refidence 
of this their great anceftor, where, according 
to the moll ancient Sanfcreet traditions, the 
firft Chinefe colony did abfolutely fettle, in 

the 

* Vide Couplet. Scient. Sinic. p. 71, and Martini Martinii 
Sinics Hiilori;e. lib. iv. p. 149, Edit. duod. Amfterdam, 1659. 



[ 42i ] 

the province of Xensi, to the north-weft: 
of India ; were it not probable, from the 
total filence of Scripture concerning the fu- 
ture incidents of the life of fo important a 
perfonage as the great and favoured patriarch 
and the mad unreftrained aft of his progeny 
in building the tower of Babel, that he 
really did migrate from the place where 
the ark refted to fome fpot, remote from 
his degenerate offspring, on the extremities 
of Afia; did not the very name of him, 
who builded the firft altar after the flood, 
and offered thereon the firft victim to the 
Lord, fignify oblation, whence doubtlefs 
Noah was defignated as the facrificer on the 
old celeftial fphere, under the name of Shin 
Num, his immediate fucceffor in the govern- 
ment of China, or rather himfelf by another 
appellative, for thefe two perfons are denomi- 
nated the founders of that empire 5 did not 
we recognize the Oriental and in particular 
the Arabian denomination of China, which 
is Sin, and in Num the Menu of India, 
which words combined together may be 
rendered into Latin Sim'cvs. Noah, the Chi- 
nefe Noah : were it not for thefe circum- 
ftances, which fo decidedly point to the pcrfon 
pf Noah, I fhould be inclined to agree in 
D d 3 opinion 



C 422 ] 

opinion with Mr. Bryant, that, by Fohi, the 
Chinefe meant the parent of the human race 
himfelf, inftead of the venerable father of the 
regenerated world. 

If Mr. Bryant's hypothefis could be admit- 
ted, the eighteen thoufand years, which he 
obferves are faid to have intervened between 
the reign of the firft and fecond emperors 
of China, by being confidered as centuries 
only, (for which interpretation of the word 
thoufand fome learned chronologifts have 
ftrenuoufly contended,) will come very near 
the fcriptural account of time that elapfed 
from the period of the creation to the de- 
luge. In that cafe, however, Fohi and Shin 
Num muft be confidered as diftinft charac- 
ters, living in very remote ages, which their 
hiftory does not warrant;* but that, at all 
events, Shin Num and Noah were the fame 
perfon, and that both meant the Menu of 
India, can fcarcely admit of a doubt, efpe- 
cially when Mr. Bryant's judicious observa- 
tion, that, in Hoang, or Hoam-ti, the fon 
of Shin Num, the veftiges of the fcriptural 
name of Ham may plainly be traced. As i 
a farther corroboration of this fuppofition, 
I fhall for the prefent only add that the- 

fevei} 

f See Mr. Bryant's Analy lis, vol.iii. p. 583. 



[ 423 ] 

feven regal defendants" of Shin Num, who, 
according to Couplet, reigned after him, 
that is, in the provinces fubjeel: to the fu- 
preme head of the empire, were doubtlefs the 
feven Reyftiees, or holy men of India •> and 
thefe, after all, were probably no other than 
the feven perfons who went into the ark with 
Noah, forming, with himfelf, the famous 
ogdoas of antiquity. 

From an author compelled in a great de- 
gree, on account of the repeated attacks 
made by fceptics upon the Mofaic hiftory 
through the fides of Indian and Chinefe 
antiquities, not to pafs unnoticed thefe cir- 
cumflances, the reader will naturally be led 
to expect a more extenfive inveftigation of 
thefe abftrufe points hereafter. I fhall, there- 
fore, at prefent, only inquire if any fenti- 
ments, of a nature confonant to thofe already 
demonftrated to have been fo widely diffufed 
through Afia, prevailed in any ancient theo- 
logical code of China. The purity of their 
primeval theology has been noticed. They 
originally adored no fculptured images of 
the Deity, although they worlhipped him 
in the emanations of guardian and benevo- 
lent fpirits that iflue from the exhauftlefs 
fountain of Deity. The doarine of thofe 
Dd 4 emanations, 



[ 4^4 ] 

emanations, and the lapfe and immortality 
of the foul, afford the ftrongeft reafon for 
fuppofing that the tradition of a God-Medi- 
ator, to appear upon earth after a certain 
revolution of ages, was cherifhed from time 
immemorial in China. Since Confucius 
ftriftiy adhered to, and vigoroufly enforced 
in his writings, the pure doctrine of his 
country, which equally forbade all images 
of the Deity and the deification of dead 
men j and, in confequence, could not con- 
fiftently recommend to them to the grofs ido- 
latry of the Bhudfoifts j it is highly proba- 
ble that this devout and venerable perfonage, 
when he told them to look to the weft for the 
Holy One that was to appear upon earthy 
was infpired with fome foreknowledge of 
the great event of the redemption, and by 
divine infpiration was enabled to predict 
the advent of the Meffiah in Paleftine, a 
country which is exaftly fituated after the 
manner defcribed; and, indeed, is the moft 
weftern country of Afia, in refped to 
China. 

In direfl and pofitive proof that I am 
not attributing to the Chinefe theological 
notions which they did not in the moft 
ancient aeras of their empire poffefs j and, 

iri 



[ 4*5 ] 

in particular, that they really did, either 
traditionally, or by revelation, entertain 
a rooted belief of the pacification of the 
j Divine Being by means of a human 
oblation of royal defcent and of diftin- 
guifhed piety, I fiiould produce from their 
moft authentic hiftorians an inftance of a 
j moft amiable and virtuous monarch, Ching- 
| tang, the founder of the fecond impe- 
rial dynafty of China, bearing the deno- 
mination of Xang, being called upon by 
the public voice, at a period of national 
diftrefs, to be the propitiatory facrifice of 
offended heaven. An univerfal barrennefs, 
arifing from continued drought, having for 
feven years together defolated the kingdom 
and thinned the inhabitants of it, Ching- 
tang was told by the priefts, who inter- 
preted the will of heaven, that its vengeance 
could only be appeafed by a human facrifice, 
and he readily became the devoted vi£Um 
of that vengeance. The aged king, fays 
Martinius,* having laid by his imperial 
robes, cut off the venerable grey hairs of his 
head, fhaved his beard, pared his nails, and 
fubje&ed himfelf to other preparatory cere- 
monies, efteemed indignities in China, bare- 
footed, 

* Vide Martini Martinii Hiftoriae Sinicx, lib. iii. p. 75. 



.[ l 4 26 3 

'footed, 'covered ^ov'er v/ith tiflits, ah3 ill the 
pofture^of a -condemned trirtftnafj approached 
the altar of facrifice, where with fuppliant 
hantis he entreated heaven to launch the 
thunder-bolt of its wrath, and accept the 
'fife of the anarch as an atonement for 
the ilns of the people. The Chinefe hif- 
lories add that, after he had finlflied his 
prayer, and for fome time devoutly waited 
the awful ftroke, which was to crufh the 
fovereign and fave the nation, (a ftroke 
which heaven in remembrance of his piety 
and refignation forbore to inflici,) the Iky 
became fuddenly black with clouds, and the 
rain defcended in torrents, fo that the fte- 
ril earth ftiortly refumed its wonted ferti- 
lity, and unbounded plenty reigned over the 
whole empire.* In the annals of China 
this folemn fa£t is recorded to have hap- 
pened in the eighteenth century before Chrift ; 
and it is very remarkable, that, in the very 
fame century, according to Uflier'f* and the 
chronology of our Bibles, the feven years 
famine in Egypt happened. From this cir- 
cumftance we are naturally induced to con* 
elude, that the dearth fpoken of in Scrip- 
ture 

* Martinius, p. 76. Le Compte, p. 319, 
. f Vide Uiherii Ann ales, p. 15, 



[ 4^7 1 

ture was general throughout the Eaft; and 
indeed it is evident, from Jofeph's fupplying 
ali the neighbouring countries with grain, 
that it was not confined to the Egyptian 
territories alone. Thus wonderfully do the 
ancient archives of a great and enlightened 
nation, fecluded for three thoufend centuries 
from all connexion with the reft of the 
world, whence arifes an impoffibility that 
thofe archives fnould be adulterated, in this 
as well as in many other inftances which it 
will fall to my province to point out here- 
after, bear decifive teftimony as well to the 
authenticity of the Mofaic hiftory as to the 
verity of the great outlines of the Mofaic 
theology. Among thefe the veftigia, for 
which alone I muft again repeat that I con- 
tend, the veftigia, of a pure undebafed Trinity, 
are not the leail: vifible. 

It is the refult of both extenfive reading 
and perfonal inquiry, made by a learned friend 
in Alia, that I am able to defcribe the vaft 
body of the Chinefe nation, thofe few ex- 
cepted who pra&ife the pure and refined pre- 
cept of the great Confucius, as divided, at 
this day, like the Indians, into two grand 
religious fe&s, if, in fadt, the name of n?- 
ligious may be beftowed upon thofe who 

have 



[ 428 ] 

have fo far deviated from the pure primaeval 
devotion of their anceftors, as either, on the 
one hand, to be plunged into the groffeft 
materialifm, or, on the other, into the mofl 
complicated and multifarious idolatry. It 
is furely no fmall honour for Chriftianity to 
be able to bring not a few proofs of its grand 
and fundamental truths from the very creed 
and practice of its moft inveterate oppofers ; 
to find its pure principles lying dormant in 
the defpumated and feculent drofs of paga- 
nifm, and the hallowed fpark of that original 
flame which blazed upon the altar erected by 
Noah, on his defcent from Ararat, occa- 
fionally beaming forth amidft the embers 
fmoaking upon the polluted fhrines of falfe 
and fi&itious deities. 

Tne firft and moft ancient of thefe feds is 
called the feci of immortals, and the founder 
of it was Lao-kiun, who flouriuhed before 
Confucius, and about the year 600, preceding 
the Chriftian sra. Although the principles 
of Epicurus have been attributed to this 
great philofopher, and though the followers 
of Lao-kiun at this day are, as has been 
obferved, rank materialifts, yet, from the ac- 
count of his writings given by Couplet and 
Le Compte, there is the greateft reafon to 

fuppofe 



[ 4 2 9 1 

fuppofe that his originai doctrines have been 
grofsly corrupted and mifreprefented by his 
difciples. They are called immortals, fay thefe 
writers, from a certain liquor, which Lao- 
kiun invented, and which, he affirmed, would, 
if drank, make men immortal. This has 
every appearance of being an allegory, and 
hereby may be meant no other than the am- 
reeta, orambrofial nectar of the Brahmins* 
They are notorioufly guilty of the worfhip of 
daemons, and temples of great fumptuoufnefe 
and magnitude are erected to thofe daemons 
in various parts of the empire. It was the 
leading feature in Lao-kiun's fyftem of phi- 
lofophical theology, and a fentence which he 
continually repeated as the foundation of alf 
true wifdom, that Tao, the eternal Reafon, 
produced One j One produced Two ; Two pro- 
duced Three ; and Three produced all things: 
a moft Angular axiom for a heathen phi- 
lofopher, and, as Le Compte, from whofe 
Memoirs of China I have verbatim copied 
the above ftntence, obferves relative to it, 
a very evident proof that he mull have had 
fome obfcure notions of a Trinity.* 

The other great feet of China is that of 
the Bhudfoifts, or thofe who worfhip the 

Indian 

# Le Compte's Memoirs of China, p. 314. 



[ 430 3 

Indian god Bhudda under the foftened name 
of Fo, as, from not having either B or D 
among the chara&ers that form their al- 
phabet, they were unable to pronounce the 
prior appellation. The Bhudfoifts have been 
denominated downright atheifts ; the con- 
trary, however, may be fairly inferred from 
the practice of thofe who worfiiip a ftone 
as the image of God. That our Britiflx 
Druids were a race of Eailern philofophers 
of the fe£t of the .Indian Bhudda, I mean 
the elder, who was the fame identical per- 
fon as the Phoenician Taut, the Egyptian 
Hermes* the Woden of the Scandinavians, 
and the Mercury of the Greeks and Romans, 
I hope, fhortly, to produce very clear evi- 
dence in an exprefs treatife upon the an- 
tiquity of Stonehenge. I had hopes of being 
able to comprefs the fobjea Efficiently to 
form a chapter of this volume of Indian 
Antiquities 5 but I found myfelf obliged, 
occafionally, to diverge fo far from fubje&s 
immediately conne&ed with India, and to 
take fuch an extenfive range, in proof of my 
pofitions, through every region of Afia, or 
rather of the earth, that fcarcely an oftavo 
volume^ and muck lefs a chapter of fuch a 
volume, would be fufficient to contain the 

refult 



t 431 ] 

refult of the inquiry. I referve that ihterefb*; 
ing fubjeft for 1 a dirtin^ Differtation. 

The Bhudfoifts of China have had the ikill; 
to render their real opinions lefs eafy of dif- 
cuflion, by adopting the artifice* made life of 
by the ancient Egyptian and Greek philofo- 
phers, to veil their myfterious tenets, that of 
a two-fold doctrine; the one exoteric, or 
external, the other, esoteric, or interior. 
If, however, they are at all acquainted with \ 
the maxims of the genuine, that is, the elder, 
Bhudda of India ; for, I believe the fecond 
to be a mere fidlion fpringing up out of the 
Eaftern fyftem of the Metempfychofis and 
divine emanations ; they muft have fome ideas 
of a triune Deity, intended in their motley 
theology; for, the ""Phoenician Taut, their 
famous Bhudda, if Suidas upon that word 
may be credited, had his furname of Trif-. 
megift, from his decided affertions on that 
point of faith. Hence too his caduceus, which 
I have had engraved for the more particular 
infpe£tion of the reader, is adorned with that 
old Egyptian fymbol of Deity, the globe, nwgs, 
and ferpent. Nor (hould it, on this fubjed:, 
be forgotten, that this caduceus is defcribed 
by the ancients as producing three leaves to- 
gcther, a facred trefoil, intimating the three- 
fold 



[ 43 2 I 

fold diftin£Hon in the Deity, for which he 
was fo ftrenuous an advocate. Thus Homer, 
in the Hymn to Mercury, calls it 
Xpcreiiiv TPIFIETHAON, the golden three- 
jleafed wand.* 

It is now high time that we fhould leave 
the eaftern confines of Afia, and, bending 
our progrefs towards its weftern extremeties, 
refume our inveftigation of the feveral Tri- 
nities of Greece. 

* Vide Hymn, in Mercurium. 



CHAPTER 



E 435 3 



C H A P T E R VII. 

'H Mu(T7}g 'ArjiKigav} 

The Chaldaan and Egyptian, being the Sourci 
of the Greek, Theology - ? the DoBrines rela~ 
the to a Trinity taught by Pythagoras, 
Parmenides, and Plato, ought 'not to be 
wondered at, nor their true AUufion denied. — 
The extenfive Travels of Pythagoras and Plato 
into the Higher Afia and Egypt detailed* ~ 
Their refpefthe Trinities, and that of 
Parmenides, Numenius, and the later 
Greek Phi/ofophers, confdered. — A retrojpec- 
the Summary of the Whole of the Argument 
on the Chriftian and Pagan Trinities in the 
preceding Chapters. 

AFTER the numerous quotations, in the 
preceding pages, from the Grecian phi- 
lofophers, moft eminent in the Pagan world, 
quotations which demonftrate they were by 
no means unimpreffed with notions on this 
point, fimilar to thofe entertained by the 

E e more 



[ 436 3 

more ancient fages of Afia ; I (halt, perhaps, 
be excufed from fwelling thefe pages with 
an infinite number of paffages that might 
be felefled from the works of Pythagoras, 
Plato, Parmenides, and others, in additional: 
proof of what has been already advanced on 
this fubje£t. I muft again repeat, that it was 
from the fountains of Chaldaean, Perfian, 
Indian, and Egyptian, learning, that thofo 
Grecian fages, as well by the channel of 
Orpheus as by their own perfonal travels in 
thofe countries, derived that copious ftream 
of theological knowledge, which was after- 
wards, by their difciples, fo widely diffufed 
through Greece and Italy ; having, therefore, 
fuccefsfully explored the fource, there is lefs 
Qccafion for us to wafte our time in minutely 
tracing the defcending current. 

It may, with truth, be affirmed, that, 
there was fcarcely one of all the celebrated 
philofophers, who eftablifhed the feveral 
fchools of Greece, diftinguifned by their 
names, who had not refided, for a confiderablc 
period, either in one or the other of the coun- 
tries juft mentioned. A produdtion of the 
evidence, on which this aflertion is founded, 
will probably be confidered of no fmall weight 
in this difcuffion. 

Let 



[ 437 ] 

Let us commence our retrofpe£t with the 
\ travels of Pythagoras, who floariftied in the 
fixth century, before the birth of Chrift. 
According to the account of his difciple Jam- 
| blichus,* the firft voyage of Pythagoras, in 
i purfait of knowledge, after the completion 
I of his academical exercifes at Samos, was- to 
Sidon, his native place, where he was early 
! initiated into all the myfterious rites and 
' fciences of Phoenicia, a country whence, I 
i have before obferved, the eider Taut emi- 
grated to Egypt, and where the profound 
Samothracian orgia and the Cabiric rites 
were firft inftituted. From Phoenicia, cur 
philofopher travelled into Egypt, and there, 
with an unabated avidity after fcience, as well 
as with unexampled perfeverance, continued, 
under the fevereft poffible difcipline, pur- 
pofely impofed upon him by the jealous priefts - 
of that country, during two* and- twenty years, 
fucceffively to infbibe the ftream of know- 
ledge at Heliopolis, at Memphis, and at 
Diofpolis, or Thebes. Aftonifhed at his ex- 
emplary patience and abftinence, the haughty 
j Egyptian priefthood relaxed from their efta- 
! bliflied rule of never divulging the arcana of 
their theology to a ftranger; for, according to 
E e 2 another 

I % 

* Jamblichus, in Vita Pythag. cap, 13. 

I 



C 43S ] 

another writer' of his life, Diogenes Laertius, 
he was admitted into the inmoft adyta of 
their temples, and there was taught thole 
ftupendous truths of their myftic philofophy, 
which were never before revealed to any fo- 
reigner.* He is faid even to have fubmitted 
to circumcifion, that he might more rigidly 
conform to their dogmas, and leave no point 
of their mod recondite fciences unexplored. 
It was during this long rcfidence and feclu- 
fion, amidft the priefts of the Thebais, that 
he arofe to that high proficiency in geome- 
trical and aftronomical knowledge, to which 
no Greek before him had ever reached, and 
few fince have attained. 

But all this aggregate of Egyptian wifdom 
could not fatisfy the mind of Pythagoras, 
whofe ardour for fcience feems to have in- 
creafed with the difcouragements thrown in 
the way of his obtaining it. He had heard 
of the Chaldean and Perfian Magi and the 
renowned Brachmanes of India, and he was 
impatient to explore the hallowed caves of 
the former and the confecrated forefts of the 
latter. He was meditating this delightful 
excurfion at the time that Cambyfes com- 
menced his celebrated expedition againft 

Egypt* 

* Diogenes Laenhs, Hb» ii. p- 9& 



[ 439 1 

E gypt, which terminated in the plunder of its 
ireafuries, the {laughter of its gods, and the 
burning of its temples. During the remainder 
of the period of his abode in Egypt, he had 
the mortification to be a fpe&ator of all thofe 
namelefs indignities which his gatrons and 
inftruflors underwent from that fubverter of 
kingdoms and enemy of fcience. Pythagoras 
himfelf was taken prifoner, and fent with 
other captives to Babylon. The Chaldsean 
Magi, however, at that metropolis, received 
with tranfport the wandering fon of fcience* 
All the fublime arcana inculcated in the an- 
cient Chaldaic oracles, attributed to the elder 
Zoro after, were now laid open to his view. 
He renewed, with intenfe ardour, thofe agro- 
nomical refearches, in which the Babylonians 
fo eminently excelled $ and learned from them 
new ideas relative to the motions, power, 
property, and influences, of the heavenly 
bodies, as well as their fituations in the hea- 
vens, and the vaft periods they took to com- 
plete their revolutions. 

Babylon muft have been, at that particular 
period, the proqdeft and mod honoured ca- 
pital upon earth, fince it is evident, from Dr. 
Hyde,* that both the prophet Ezekiel and 
E e 3 the 

• See Hyde de Relig. vet. Perf. p. 36 1< 



[ 440 ] 

the fecond Zoroafter, the friend of Hyftafpes, 
whom Porphyry calls Zaratus, (a narrie ex- 
ceedingly fimilar to the Oriental appellation 
of Zeratusht,) relided there at the fame 
time* The former, attached to the man who 
had fubmitted in Egypt to one fundamental 
rite prefcribed by the Jewifh law, inftrudted 
him in the awful principles of the Hebrew 
religion; the latter made him acquainted with 
the doctrines of the two predominant prin- 
ciples in nature, of good and evil, and un- 
folded to his aftonifhed view all the ftu- 
pendous myfteries of Mithra. Twelve years, 
according to Porphyry, were fpent by Py- 
thagoras in this renowned capital, from which, 
when he had regained his liberty, determined 
to complete his treafure of Afiatic literature, 
he fought the diftant, but celebrated, groves 
of the Brachmans of India.* Among that 
fecluded and fpeculative race, he probably 
carried to the higheft point of perfection, 
attainable in that age, thofe aftronomical in- 
veftigations, to which he was fo deeply de- 
voted : by them he was probably inftru<5ted 
in the true fyftem of the univerfe, Which, to 
this day, is diftinguiflied by his name : among 
them he greatly enlarged the limits of his 

metaphyfical 

* Pcrphyrius, inVita Pythag. p. 185, edit. Cantab. 



[ 44* ] 

metaphyseal knowledge : and from thern he 
carried away the glorious doftrine of the im- 
mortality of the foul, which he firft divulged 
in Greece, and the fanciful do&rine of the 
Metempfychofis. 

Plato was born at Athens, in the 88th 
Olympiad, or about 430 years before Chrift, 
He had the honour and advantage of having 
Socrates for the guide and preceptor of his 
youth. Already intruded in all the intricate 
doarines of the Pythagorean philofophy, on 
the death of that martyr to the caufe of truth, 
he travelled firft into Italy, and then into 
Egypt, as well tq mitigate the anguifh he felt 
at the lofs of fo excellent and wife a man, as 
to increafe the treafures of knowledge with 
which his mind was already fo amply ftored. 
Cicero exprefsly informs us, that, in vifiting 
Egypt, his principal aim was to learn mathe- 
matics and ecclefiaftical fpeculations among 
the -barbarians ;* for, by this difgraceful ap- 
pellation, the faftidious Greeks ftigmatized all 
foreign nations. He travelled, fays Valerius 
Maximus, over the whole of that country, 
informing himfelf, by means of the priefts, 
during his progrefs, of geometry in all its 
various and multifold branches, as well as of 
E e 4 their 

♦ Cicero de Finibus, cap. 5. 



[ 442 ] 

their agronomical obfervations : and, while 
the young ftudents at Athens were inquiring 
for Plato, and languifhing for his inftrudtions, 
that philofopher was indulging his contem- 
plations on the (hores of the Nile, fur veving 
the canals cut from that river, and raeafuring 
the dams that reftrained its fifing waters, being 
himfelf but a difciple to the fages of the 
Thebais.* From thofe fages, Paufanias, in 
Meffoniis, affirms he learned the immortality 
of the foul, and, from the ft ; le and tenor of 
his writings, it is pretty evident that he was 
deeply verfed in the facred books attributed to 
Hermes Trifmegift. It is equally evident that 
Plato had read with attention the Mofaic 
writings and hiftory, not through the me- 
dium, as has been aflerted, of the Greek 
tranflation, (for, that tranflation was not made 
till the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, which 
took place near two hundred years after the 
birth of Plato,) but by means of his own in* 
defatigable exertion in acquiring languages 
and exploring the fources of Oriental fcience 
and traditions. Indeed the fludy of the 
Eaftern languages, fo neceffary to a traveller 
in the Eaft, and, in particular, the Egyptian 
and Phoenician, which differed only in dialect 

from 

* Valerias Maximus, lib. viii. cap. 7. 



[ 443 1 

from the Hebrew, cannot be fuppofed to be 
unattended to by a man fired with fuch an in 
fatiable thitft of learning as was Plato. Add 
to this, that, with the multitude of Jews^ 
which, about that period of their diflipation, 
flocked to Egypt, he could fcarcely fail of 
frequently converfing, in order to penetrate 
into their facred records, and myftic cabbala, 
fo famous, but fo little underftood, through- 
out Afia. The beft evidence of this faft is to 
be found in his writings, where are to be met 
with fuch repeated allufions to "what he de- 
nominates vcikouoi \oyoi, ancient difcourfes, or 
traditions, and certain Zvgioi nut Qotvutat ^ulfo*, 
or Syrian and Phoenician fables, that it is im- 
poffible to confider this philofopher as not 
converfant in Hebrew antiquities. The con- 
trary, in fa&, was fo manifeft to Numenius, 
a Pythagorean philofopher of the fecond cen- 
tury, that, according to Clemens Alexandri- 
nus, he exclaimed, Ti Ip UKocrav y 4 M«<r^ 
>0fat%&fy What is Plato but Mofes converfing 
in the language of Athens ?* 

Thus, in a curfory manner, have I traced 
the veftigia of thefe two famous Greeks 
through thofe countries where either the true- 
theology was firft propagated or firft perverted. 

Let 

* Clem. Alexand, Stromat. lib.i. p.411, edit. Oxon. 



[ 444 ] 

Let us now proceed in a manner confident 
with the brevity we profefs to obferve, after 
fnch a wide range through the fchools of 
Aria, to examine .the leading features of their 
refpefUve fyfterns of theology. 

It will fcarcely be contefted that Pythagoras 
borrowed frtfm the Egyptian priefts, who were 
/o deeply involved in fymbols and" hiero- 
glyphics, that jymboUcal and enigmatical ' way 
of inftrufiing his difciples as to ethical and 
theological fubjects, which he fo univerfally 
adopted; and I fhall, hereafter, when confi- 
dering the literature of India, have occafion 
to prove that nearly all his moft famous fym- 
bols have their origin, not in Grecian, but 
Oriental, ideas and manners. A fimilar ob- 
fervation holds good in refpecl to his venera- 
tion for facred myftic numbers \ for, when I 
inform the reader, that the ten numerical cha- 
racters of arithmetic are originally of Indian, 
and not, as generally fuppofed, of Arabian, 
invention, he will entertain little doubt in 
what Eaftern country, he learned, in fuch per-^ 
fe£tion, that abftrufe fcience. On that very 
particular and curious belief entertained both 
by Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, relative to 
the agency of good and evil demons, fome 
attendant on the human race, as a kind of 

guardiaa 



[ 445 1 

guardian and familiar fpirit, one of whicti 
fpecies, Socrates affirmed, attended himfelf and 
others, fpleenful, malignant, and ever plotting 
their ruin, the fource has been equally laid 
open in our review of the Chaldaic theurgy. 
It is, however, with thofe fublimer points in 
their theology, which have reference to the 
nature of God himfelf, that we have at pre- 
fent a more immediate concern. 

This wife ancient ftyled the fupreme Deity 
the great Father of all, to h, the unity, and 
povxg, the monad ; a term by which Pytha- 
goras doubtlefs intended to exprefs his con- 
ceptions of the fimplicity as well as purity of 
the divine nature. The fole caufe and firft 
principle of all that exifts, he efteemed the 
Deity the centre of unity and fource of har- 
mony. He likewife conferred on this almighty 
Sovereign the name, by which Plato after- 
wards diftinguifhed the firft hypoftafis of his 
Triad, to ctyccdov, the chief good. From this 
eternal monad, however, from this primaeval 
unity, according to Pythagoras and all his 
difciples, there Sprang an infinite duality.* 
By the term duality, fays the Chevalier Ram- 
fay, the learned author of a Differtation on 
the Theology and Mythology of the Ancients, 

added 



* Vide Diogenes Lacrtius, lib. viii. p. 507. 



f 446 ] 

addded to the Travels of Gyrus, we are not to 
underhand two perfons of the Chriftian Tri- 
nity, but a world of intelligent and corporeal 
fubftances, which is the effe<ft whereof unity is 
theCaufe.* When the reader, however, fhall 
have duly reflected on all that has been pre- 
vioufly fubmitted to his confideration in the 
former part of this volume, to the dodixine of 
which this Pythagorean fentiment is fo per- 
fectly confentaneous, he will probably be in- 
duced to think, that, by fo remarkable an ex- 
preffion, Pythagoras intended to allude to the 
emanation of beings of an order far fuperior 
to thofe referred to in the page of that writer. 
Befides, as Dr. Cudworth has judicioufly ob- 
ferved concerning the opinions of Pythagoras, 
fince he is generally acknowledged to have fol- 
lowed the principles of the Orphic theology, 
whofe Trinity we have feen, and, as is allow-, 
ed by Chevalier Ramfay himfelf, was 
BsX^, t&^j \ or Light, Counsel, and Life ; 
it cannot reafonably be doubted that he adopt- 
ed this among the other doctrines of Or- 
pheus.-]- 

The three hypoftafes that form the Trinity 
of Plato, it is well known, are to Ayoc&cv, N*^ 

fcftfcn 

* See les Voyages de Cyrus, tom.ii. p. 193, edit. Rouen, 
f CudsvortYs Intelkaual Syftem, vol. i. p. 374. 



[ 447 1 
often denominated by him Aoyo?, and 
KGo-fjM. When Plato, in various parts of his 
writings, calls his firft hypoftafis, as he fre- 
quently does, o 7T^eoTog 0£0£ and o pzyigoq &scov f 
and ufes terms, with refpeft to the other two 
hypoftafes, which mark a kind of fubordina- 
tion in this his Trinity, it is fcarcely poffible 
to miftakean allufion fo plain to the higher 
Triad for which we contend. The countries 
through which he travelled, and the people 
with whom he converfed, immediately point 
out the fource of a do£frine fo Angular, flow- 
ing from the pen of an unenlightened Pagan. 
It is very probable, that, from his acquaintance 
with Egyptian, Phoenician, and other Oriental, 
languages* intimately connefled with the 
faered dialed, this philofopher derived the 
term Aoy®°, which is the fecond in his Tri- 
nity ; for Aoy&t, as has been frequently before 
remarked in thefe pages, is the literal tranfla- 
tion of the Chaldaic Mimra, the facred appel- 
lative by which the ancient paraphrafts in- 
variably underftand the Meffiah. The notion 
is entirely Hebraic. The Meffiah was called 
the Mimra, or Word, becaufe, in the Mofaie 
account of the creation, that expreffion fo 
frequently occurs, et dixit Deus, and there- 
fore it was a very unjuft accufation (although, 

from % 



[ 448 3 

from his ignorance of the real fad:, a very 
pardonable one) which Amelius, the Pla- 
tonift, brought againft St. John, when, having 
read the firft verfe of that evangelift, where 
the term Aoy(&> occurs no lefs than three 
times, he complained that John had tranf- 
ferred into his Gofpel the myfterious expreffion 
of his matter, exclaiming, " By Jupiter, this 
barbarian agrees in fentiment with our Plato, 
and, like him, conftitutes the Aoy<&> of God in 
the rank of a firft principle !"* The fact is 
that St. John made ufe of an ancient and ap- 
propriate term, by which the Meffiah was 
known to the Hebrew race, whereas Plato 
made ufe of it, becaufe the expreffion fre- 
quently occured in the exotic theology, which 
he had borrowed, without knowing either 
the original meaning or fecondary allufion of 
the term. 

It is ftill more probable, that the a&ive 
divine agent, which, in the Mofaic writings, is 
called Ilnvpce. 0e», is the fame with that pri- 
maeval principle, which, in reviewing the trif- 
megiftic theology of Hermes, we obferved was 
denominated by a word fimilar to mind, or 
intelligence. This primitive principle is 
in the Orphic do&rines ftyled 'E^, Divine 

Love, 

* Amelius citatus in Drufri Annotat. in John i. i> 



t 449 1 

Love, generating all things; and, in the Pla- 
tonic -writings, with frill more marked allu- 
fion to that fupreme demiurgic Spirit, whofe 
powerful breath infufed into nature the firft 
principles of life, is called xocrpv,, or the 

Soul of the world. 

Parmenides, according to Stanley's autho- 
rities, was of Elea, a city of .Magna Grecia, 
that gave its name to the Eleatic fe£r, to 
which Parmenides belonged. He flourifhed 
in the 89th Olympiad. .Involved, in nearly- 
equal obfcurity with the incidents of his life 
are the doclrines which he taught y they were 
written in verfe, and the fubftance of them is 
given in Plato's Parmenides, the leaft intelli- 
gible of that philofopher's productions. Stan- 
ley has not illumined that abftrufe treatife by 
the epitome which he has given of its con- 
tents.* To Simplicius and Plotinus pofterity 
is indebted for the beft explication of the pre- 
cepts of his philofophy, in which, however, 
amidft furrounding darknefs, the veftigia of 
this do&rine are to be difcerned. Of that phi- 
lofophical theology the great and fundamental 
maxim was, that the Deity is h kou woXXa, or 
one and many ; which words, if they do not 
allude to the unity of the divine Effence and 

the 

* Stanley's Lives of the Fmlofophers, p. 448. 



[ 450 ] 

the plurality of perfons in that EflTerice, it is 
difficult to decide to what they do allude. If 
the reader fliould conceive, that, by this Angu- 
lar mode of expreffing himfelf, Parmenides 
meant a phyucal, and not a divine, principle^ 
Simplicius, cited by Cudworth, as an author 
well acquainted with that philofopher's real 
opinions, will inform him ot-herwife, and that 
he wrote a ts-s^i tv tpucnKX gotyji^^ czAXoi uregi tx 
ccvtx ovroq\ not concerning a phyfical element, 
but concerning the true Ens 5* and I fhall add 
to Cudworth's remarks on this fubjeft, that 
the true Ens was no other than the Jehovah 
of the Hebrews, a word which Buxtorf (cited 
by me in a former page) afferts to mean Ens, 
existens, and whence, it is more than pro* 
bable, the Greek word, defcriptive of the di- 
vine entity, was derived, Plotinus, comment- 
ing on Plato's Parmenides, reprefents him as 
acknowledging three divine unities fubordi- 
nate : to w^utov Iv to kv^icots^ov ev 9 koci Ssvteqov h 
•srcXXa, Xsyuv* kcci toitov, Iv kcu woXXx*. cc the firft 
unity being that which is moft perfeftly and 
properly one ; the fecond, that which is called 
by him one-many j and the third, that which 
is by him exprefled one and many." Ploti- 
nus then adds : scut <rvp<pct)vo$ iroq km uvto$ Ijt 

reus 

• Cudworth's Intelle&ual Syftem, vol. i. p. 384. 



[ 45* 1 

rm r^<nv: " fo that he himfelf alfo (Parme- 
nides) agreed in the acknowledgement of a 
Triad of archical hypoftafes"* The pro- 
bable meaning of Parmenides in thefe dif- 
tiraftions is commented upon at length by 
Cudworth, to whom I muft refer the reader 
for more particular information, while I finally 
pafs on to the confutation of the ideas upon 
this fubject of fome others of the more diftin- 
guifhed philofophers of Greece. 

One of the moft exprefs and clear of the 
ancient philofophers on 'this fubjedt was Nu- 
menius, a Pythagorean, who flourifhed in the 
fecond century, and who, if Eufebius rightly 
reprefents his fentiments, wrote concerning 
Three Sovereign Deities. He makes the Se- 
cond the Son of the Firft, and, by a coarfe, 
but decifive, figure of fpeech, calls the Third 
Hypoftafis, Ibi&ymsk Grandfon.-f 

The Trinity of Plotinus very remarkably 
refembled Plato's, and confided of to e £i>, the 
One ; Um the Mind ; and Vvxit the Soul ; 
and thefe he denominates rgag tfyxprn vwog-x- 
<rag t three archical or principal hypoftafes. 
The Trinity of Amelius, his contemporary, we 

F f have 

* Flotini Ennead. 5. lib. i. cap. 8. 

f Vide Eufebius, Pr;ep. Evang.lib. ii. p. $37 *» and Proclus in 
Timaeo, lib. ii. p. .93. 



[ 45 2 ] 

have clearly feen in a former page, was a plain 
Trinity of perfons ; for, he ftyled them tj*? 
@cc<Ti\etg y three kings, and makes them all 
Syptisgyvs, creators.* Porphyry called the firft 
hypofiafis in his Trinity, in fingular con- 
formity to the notion of Chriftians, tcv UMijia, 
the Father j his fecond was N»s, the Mind, 
like Plato's ; but his third hypoftafis differed 
from Plato's and all that went before him ; for, 
he denominated it not the Soul of the World, 
but a Soul u-sregKotriuogy above that of the 
world.-}- 

There was an attempt made by Jamblichus, 
Proclus, and fome of the later Platonifts, to 
invalidate this venerable do&rine of Chris- 
tianity, by multiplying the number of the di- 
vine hypoftafes, and by exalting the to 'AyxSop 
to an eminence far above the other two. Of 
this effort I fhall only obferve, that it proved 
as futile as it was malignant; and, having 
now, through a feries of ages, and a variety 
of countries, many of them very remote from 
each other, examined the hiftory of both the 
Chriftian and Pagan Trinities, and ihewn the 
extent of this doftrine over all the Oriental 
world, I fliali clofe the prolonged digreffion 

with 

• Proclus, cited before in Timzeo, p. 93. 
f Proclus in Tim, p. 94 and 98, 



[ 453 1 

with a few refleftions that naturally refult 
from the furvey. 

The firft that forcibly ftrikes the mind is, 
that this doctrine could not be the invention 
of Plato, becaufe it has been plainly proved, 
by accumulated evidence, to have exifted in 
the Higher Afia, and particularly in India, a 
thoufand years before Plato flouriftied ; for, of 
that remote date are the Elephanta caverns, 
and the Indian hiftory of the Mahabbarat, in 
which a plain Triad of Deity is alluded to 
and defignated. 

Of confequence, flill more palpably falfe 
muft be the aflertion, that Juftin Martyr, who 
had formerly been a Platonift, firft imported 
it into the Chriftian church, from the writings 
of that philofopher, in the fecond century. We 
have feen that, in faft, this doftrine, long 
before Plato flourifhed, was admitted, but 
concealed, ^mong the myftic cabbaH of the 
rabbies; and, as undoubtedly one of the ftrong- 
eft, if not the Jirongefl, of the arguments, ad- 
duced in favour of the do&rine of the Trinity 
being known and acknowledged by the ancient 
rabbies, is that deduced from the evident ap^ 
pearance of it in the Chaldee paraphrafes, 
compofed before the violent difputes on the 
fubjeft broke forth, I have feletted many 
F f 2 ftriking 



[ 454 3 

ftriking paflages from thera, which, I imagine, 
cannot fail to have their due weight. I (hall 
not, therefore, here enlarge farther on that 
head, but only infert a remark omitted before, 
that the famous and frequently- cited paffage 
in the Pfalms, the Lord /aid unio my Lord, is 
tranflated in the Targum, the Lord faid unto 
' Word 5 which, if not underftood of the 
fecond hypoftafis, is inexplicable nonfenfe, and 
can be refolved by no idiom whatever. 

It is acircumftance not lefs aftoniflaing than 
true, that the Jews fhould admit the miracles, 
while they deny the divinity, of Chrift ; for, 
the reader has been already informed, that, 
unable otherwife to account for the power 
which he exerted in working thofe miracles, 
the reality of which they dare not deny, they 
are driven to the extremity of afferting that 
thofe miracles were wrought by means of the 
tetragrammaton, which he ftole out of 
the Holy of Holies. Now, their not denying 
his miracles is one great and decided proof of 
their having been really and publicly per- 
formed, and confequently of his being the 
Meffiah. Inftead of that belief, however, to 
which impartial truth fhould lead them, they 
obftinately continue to call the crucified Jefus 
the wicked Balaam, the prophetic impoftor, 



[ 455 ] 

who ftole the tetragrammaton, and to 
whom they impute all the fufferings of their 
nation, becaufe, as Abarbanel has it, " That 
deceiver impioufly called himfelf the Son of 
God"* Hence inflamed with intolerable ha- 
tred againft Chriftians, they remain almoft 
totally ignorant of the leading principles of 
the Chriftian religion and the foundations on 
which it refts. And thus long are they likely 
to remain, while they continue to entertain 
the incongruous, the fenfual, the abfurd, con* 
ceptions, which, at this day, prevail among 
them, relative to the imaginary being whom 
they have adorned with the enfigns and autho- 
rity of the true MeJJiah. 

There was an ancient and almofl: imme- 
morial tradition among the Jews, that the 
world was to laft only fix thoufand years. They 
divided the ages, during which it was to con- 
tinue, in the following manner. Two thou- 
fand years were to elapfe before the law took 
place ; two thoufand were to be paffed under 
the law j and two thoufand under the Mef- 
fiah. Indeed, this fexmillennial duration of 
the world was, it is probable, too much the 
belief of the ancient fathers, who conceived, 
that, as the creation was formed in fix days, 

reckoning, 

• See Bafnage, p. 254. 



[ 456 3 

reckoning, according to that aflertion in the 
Pfalms, that every day is with God as a thou- 
fand years, and was concluded by a grand 
fabbath or day of almighty reft, fo the 
world was ordained to laft cniy during the re- 
volution of fix thoufand years. 

Time rolled on in its rapid and refiftlefs 
career, and proved to them the fallacy of this 
ancient tradition, Still, however, their moft 
celebrated rabbins continued calculating, by 
the courfe of the liars, the times of .their great 
Meffiah's expefted advent. Repeated calcula- 
tions of thofe times, and as repeated difap- 
pointments, have, at length, nearly plunged 
in defpair the infatuated^ fons of Judah, 
Rabbi Abraham, who, in the year 151 6, had 
found, engraved upon a wall, a very ancient 
prophecy, relative to that coming, had de- 
clared that the fame ftar, which appeared when 
Jofhua conquered the land of Canaan, and 
when Ezra brought back the people from Ba- 
bylon, would again appear in the year 1529, 
when the Meffiah might, for a certainty, be 
expefted : but the prediftion was by no means 
verified by the event, and the more recent 
Talmudic dodtors* ftung by this painful ex- 
pofure of their credit, pray to God that the 
man who now prefumes to calculate the times 

of 



C 457 3 

of the Mefliah may burft afunder, and that his 
bones may fwell and break. Such is their ftrong 
language in the Gemara. His coming, they 
aflert, is ft ill delayed on account of the un- 
repented fins of the people. When this con- 
ftdlation (hall at length manifeft itfelf, the 
moft awful prodigies in nature are to precede 
his defcent. The moft fanguinary wars fhall 
defolate the globe i a dew of blood fhall fall 
down from heaven ; plague and famine (hall 
ravage the earth ; and the moft venomous 
reptiles and the moft favage monfters of the 
defert are to be let loofe on mankind. The 
fun itfelf fhall be turned into darknefs and 
the moon into blood, according to Joels 
prophecy, but, in thirty days, (hall recover 
their priftine brightnefs. <£ Men," fays the Ge- 
mara, " formidable with two heads and nume- 
rous eyes, burning like fire, fhall come from 
the extremities of the earth j and a powerful 
and defpotic monarch finally prevailing fhall 
govern the univerfe with a rod of iron."* His 
throne fhall be eftablifhed in Rome, (a proof 
at what period they expected the Mefliah,) but 
he (ball reign only nine months, when the 
firft Mefliah, the Jon of Jofepb, as he is called 
in the Talmud, fhall appear; and, routing 

this 

* Gemara, Title Sanhedrim, fol. 52, 



[ 453 1 

this tyrant with great (laughter, fhall efta- 
blifh a more righteous throne. This throne, 
though more righteous, is however to be 
fcarcely lefs fanguinary* for, in one battle, 
nearly two hundred thoufand combatants 
with their leader are to perifh. At length 
the great archangel Michael is to blowthree 
times the trumpet of heaven ; and then the 
defirt of nations, the true Mefliah, the Son of 
David, is to appear with the prophet Elijah w 
by his fide. All the Chriftians and infidels 
then living are to be annihilated at the fecond 
blaft of that trumpet. Ail the virtuous de- 
ceafed of the Jews, from the time of Mofes, 
are to rife from their graves, and attend the 
Meffiah to the renovated Jerufalem, which, 
with its temple, is to be rebuilt with pre- 
cious ftones. A banquet of boundlefs mag- 
nificence is to be prepared for them, which is 
to be adorned with a Leviathan fatted of old 
for this feaft of the bleffed ; with a female 
Behemoth, of exquifite flavour and with the 
bird Bariuchne, a bird of fuch ftupendous 
magnitude, that, when its wings are expanded, 
the orb of the fun is darkened. Wine, treaiu- 
red up ever fince the creation, in the vault of 
Adam, is to flow in abundant ftreams $ wine, 
©f the rich vintage that commenced before 

the 



[ 459 ] 

the earth became defiled and curled ; wine, 
the flavour and fpirit of which is not to be 
decayed, but improved, by its immenfe age. 
Such are the conceptions, reader, and others a 
thoufand times more grofs, of the Jewifii 
nation relative to the grand banquet to take 
place on the Meffiah's appearance. Bafnage 
profeffes faithfully to have detailed thefe va- 
rious circumftances from Maimonides, Abar- 
banel, and other celebrated rabbies, and from 
him I have copied the luxurious pi£ture, to 
mark the corruption of their minds, and their 
carnal notions of thofe future pleafures which 
Chriftians believe to be purely fpiritual.* Can 
we wonder, after this, at any mutilation or 
depravation of paffages in Scripture by a race 
fo fenfual and fo corrupt ? 

To refume the gravity which fo folemn a 
fubjeft requires, I mull beg permiffion again 
to obferve, that, on thefe myfterious points, 
which human reafon cannot fathom, it is in 
vain that we make that reafon the umpire. 
That finite man, however, can form no ade- 
quate conception of this great truth, by no 
means implies impoffibility or contradiction 
in the thing itfelf. This circumftance arifes 
from the limited nature 4 of the human fa- 

G g culties. 

* Bafnage's Hiftory of the jews, p. 373. 



E 460 ] 

culties. It is mere ignorance ; but it is an 
ignorance which we can never overcome. Let 
it ever be remembered, that Chriftianity by no 
means propofes to mankind a theological 
code, encumbered with no difficulties, in- 
volved in no perplexities. * Its great myfterious 
truths are not to be folved by the light of 
nature, nor fcanned by the boldeft flight of 
human intellect. Neither the Trinity nor the 
Incarnation can be proved, nor were intended 
to be proved, by philofophical arguments. 
The word of God is the fole bafts of the 
proofs and folutions of thefe ftupendous doc- 
trines. They are wifely fliaded from our view, 
the better to excite in us the ardour of faith, 
and exercife the virtues neceffary to obtain the 
fublime rewards which it propofes to per- 
fevering piety. The Almighty has been pleafed 
to ere£t mounds and ramparts, as of old at 
Sinai, around the abode of his Majefty, to 
ward off the dangerous curiofity of man ; he 
hath wrapped himfelf in clouds, that we might 
not be confumed by the full blaze of that 
glory which inverts the eternal throne. 

THE END. 



LONDON : PRINTED BY C. AND W. G A LABI N, IN CRAM-COURT. 



Direflions to the Binder for placing the Plates 
in this Volume, 



Page 

The Indian Triad of the Ele- 

phanta Cavern . . . Frontifpiece. 

Hebrew Shechinah, and Symbol of 

the Egyptian Trinity, to face . \j 

Hebrew Symbols and Triplasios 
Mithras, the Persian Trinity, 
to face j5 r 

Numen Triplex Japoni^um . . . 243 

Siberian Medal ....... ^93 

\mMk^MMM - - mi 



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